1 

4 




by A' G Jackmam36W''Sorlt. 



^^ 




^-^ 



THE 



GAME OF BILLIARDS, 



BY 

MICHAEL PHELAN. 



THIRD edition: 
REVISED, ENLARGED, AND RICHLY EMBELISHED WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 



NEW YORK: 
D. APPLETON AND COMPA.NY, 

346 & 348 BROADWAY. 

1858. 



LC Control Number 





tmp96 026036 




I>IiEF-A.OE 



rO THE 



THIRD EDITION 



The ready sale and general favor whicli two for- 
mer Editions of this work have met with, would seem 
to render any preface to this present issue unneces- 
sary, except for the purpose of allowing the Author 
to express his heart-felt thanks to his numerous friends 
and the public generally, for their kindness. 

Xevertheless^ he is well aware that some points in 
the book, as at first published, though clear enough to 
himself, or any others who were adepts in the game, 
must have seemed difl&cult of comprehension, both to 
beginners and players in other parts of the country, 
not acquainted with the technical terms made use of in 
the billiard-playing circles of our larger cities. These 
deficiencies are here remedied with the utmost care; 
and the whole text has been revised and enlarged 
where requisite, under the light of all suggestions 
made by critics or friends, and to supply such rules 
as letters of enquiry proved to be not clear enough in 
their original form. 



IV PKEFACE TO THIRD EDITION. 

Making no pretensions to literature — a practical 
man, merely jotting down the results and observa- 
tions of his own experience, the author deprecates any 
censure for the style of his performance ; but where a 
fault can be pointed out in any statement relating 
either to the theory or practice of the game to which 
his life has been devoted, — ^in that case he will not 
have one word to urge against the most summary con- 
demnation, but will feel grateful to the critic who has 
called attention to the error — ^if any such can be 
found. 

Some irrelevant matters which haste permitted a 
place in the two former issues, have been excised from 
this ; and in its present form the author again commits 
his venture to the public, assured that nothing has 
been neglected on his part to make the volume more 
worthy of the generous and cordial appreciation with 
which the two prior editions were received. 
Very gratefully, 

MICHAEL PHELAN, 

786 AND 788 Broadway, New York, 1868. 



ORIGINAL PREFACE 

TO FIRST AND SECOND EDITIONS. 



Several years ago, the present author had prepared a 
collection of diagrams and notes, out of which it was his 
earnest desire to compile such an Essay on Billiards as might 
really promote the scientific development of the noble game. 

But being at the time too closely engaged to devote the 
necessary amount of labor to such a production, the work 
fell short, in every way, of his just expectations — though he 
has heard from many good authorities that, ^Svith all its 
imperfections on its head,'' it was nevertheless the most com- 
plete and thorough manual that had previously been issued 
on the subject. 

Apart from the friendly partiality of these critics, the 
author has since reviewed the work, with as little prejudice 
as the circumstances would permit ; and he has found that 
although a majority of the principles, and nearly all the 
examples therein laid down, are correct — still, as a whole, 
the treatise lacks that systematic arrangement, in the ab- 
sence of which it is impossible to arrive at scientific deduc- 
tions by legitimate means. The thread of the argument is 
correct enough, but it needs to be unravelled : there are 
nearly all the materials for a fine building there, but the 
Scientific Edifice is still unfinished and unfurnished. 

Now, at a time when kinder fortune has placed more 
leisure at his command, he has undertaken the present vol- 
ume, with a serious desire to correct the inaccuracies and 
inadvertencies which disfigure his former essay. Whether 
successfully or not, he has devoted his best care, and the 



VI ORIGINAL FKEFACE. 

whole teachings of liis experience, to make this book a prac- 
tical help and guide to every student of the game^ — whether 
that student be a mere novice, for the jBrst time handling his 
cue, or a player of high standing, who has won matches 
where the billiard-fame of his country was at stake. It is 
the property of every science to be infinite ; and the best of 
us are but students, who can learn fresh lessons every hour, 
if our eyes are not blinded by the idea that we have already 
arrived at perfection. 

In the diagrams which illustrate the text, he has confined 
himself to such positions as are best calculated to explain 
the essential principles of the game ; and has avoided those 
curious or ''fancy shots," as they are called, which, though 
of interest to the accomplished player, it is almost impossible 
to explain or render credible to the uninitiated, except by 
ocular demonstration. 

The code of rules drawn up for simplifying and giving 
uniformity to the various games of billiards, as played in the 
United States, will be found, the author confidently believes, 
the most ample and satisfactory ever laid before the public. 

Finally : in that portion of the treatise which is purely 
rudimentary — the quantities of motive power, the different 
kinds of stroke, and so forth — the present volume must 
necessarily have much in common with its predecessor ; but 
the similarity is rather superficial than exact, for even in 
these matters many points will now be found elucidated, 
which the haste and insufficiency of the former work left 
cither vaguely or erroneously accounted for. 

With these few remarks — made rather to anticipate 
attacks than to boast of what is here accomplished — the 
author would subscribe himself, 

The public's most obedient servant, 

MICHAEL PHELAN. 



CONTENTS. 



Preface. 



Chapter 1 13 

Introductory and General — some account of the Origin of 
Billiards, and an Appeal to the Ladies of America in its 
favor, 13. 

Chapter II 29 

On the Machinery of Billiards — the Table and its Appur- 
tenances — improvements in the Cue and Cushions — 
the Cue, 30. The Balls, 33. The Counters, Chalk, 
and Artificial Bridge, 34. A Billiard Room — its proper 
Dimensions — on the Arrangement of the Lights, 35. The 
Cushions, their Importance and Scientific Requirements, 
36. Faultiness of India Rubber, and other Cushions — 
opinion of Edward Russell Mardon thereon, 38. 

Chapter III 42 

The General Principles of the Game defined, with a view 
to their Practical Application — conditions of a Good 
Attitude, 43. How to make the Natural Bridge, 45. 
The Lady's Attitude in Playing Billiards, 46. The 
Cue, its Weight, &c., 49. The Cue Leather, on the 
Selection of, 51. 



VI 11 CONTENTS. 

Plate of Cue-Positions 62 

The Centre, Follow, Jump, Perpendicular Force, 
and Force, 62. Principal Sections or Points, in which 
the Ball should be struck to produce Different Effects — 
illustrated by Plate, 67. 

Chapter IV 65 

Definition of Technical Phrases employed in the Game 
of Billiards — Hazard, Carom, Kiss, Scratch, Force, 
Follow, Jump, Bank, Miss, Miscue, Burst, Privilege, 
Taking a Hazard, Killed or Dead Ball, Playing for 
Safety, Hug, Jaw, Doublet or Cross, Foul Stroke or 
Shot, Full Ball, Quarter Ball, Half, Fine or Cut-Ball, 
Own or Cue-Ball, and Object-Ball, Break, Stringing for 
Lead, Discount, Playing Spot-Ball, Billiard Sharp (a full 
description of the animal). Love Gam<?, Count, &c., &c. 

A Table of the Motive Powers, 76 

To be used in Executing the Different Problems, which 
follow. Plate of Illustrations, 77. 

Diagram No. 1 82 

Simple Angles, produced by Playing with Different Quan- 
tities of Power. 

Diagram No. H 86 

On Double, or Compound Angles. 

Diagram No. HI 90 

On the Change of Axis, and its Effect on the Angles. 

Diagram No. IV 94 

On the Effect of the Different Degrees of Strength when 
two Bulls come in Contact. 

Diagram No. V 97 

The Principles of a ** Follow," and a "Force." 



CONTENTS. IX 

Diagram No. VI 100 

Further Illustration of the " Follow'' and " Force." 

Diagram No. YII 106 

On Twisting Shots. 

Diagram No. VIII 110 

On the Effect the Side-Stroke will have on the Cue-Ball, 
after contact with the Cushion. 

Diagram No. IX 113 

Effect of the Side-Stroke and Twist continued. 

Diagram No. X 117 

Further Illustration of the Side-Stroke. 

Diagram No. XI 119 

Illustrations of the "Kiss" and Side-Stroke. 

Diagram No. XII 122 

Further Illustrations of the " Kiss" and Side-Stroke. 

Diagram No. XIII 126 

Further Illustrations of the *'Kiss" and Force. 

Diagram No. XIV 129 

More of the " Kiss." 

Diagram No. XV 132 

Forming CuiTes by a Follow and a Force. 

Diagram No. XYI 135 

On Managing the Balls so as to leave good Breaks. 

Diagram No. XVII 138 

Another Illustration of Manajxing or " Nursing" the Balls. 



X CONTENTS. 

Diagram No. XVIII 140 

Further Illustration of Nursing or Managing the Balls. 

Diagram No. XIX 144 

Taking Advantage of the Chances for making Points. 

Diagram No. XX 148 

Some Fancy Shots in Common Use. — J. N. White's Favor- 
ite Shot, Fig. 4, same Diagram. 

DuGRAM No. XXI 154 

Advantages of the Perpendicular Stroke. 

Diagram No. XXH 157 

On Execution and Judgment. 

Diagram No. XXIII 160 

A Stroke from the " Billiard Cue." 

Diagram No. XXIV 103 

A Shot of Mr. C. Bird's. 

Diagram No. XXV 166 

Shovs^ing the Position of the different Spots on the Billiard 
Table — also the Semicircles or Playing Points for the 
English and French Games. 

Chapter V 169 

A Code to Regulate and Reduce to Uniformity the differ- 
ent Games of Billiards, as Played in the United States 
and elsewhere. 

A Code to Regulate the American or Four-Ball Game 172 

On Stringing for the Lead, 172. On Leading, and on Open- 
ing of the Game, 173. On Foul Strokes, 173. On For- 
feitures, 177. On Cases where the Balls are in Contact, 
179. On Withdrawing from, without Finishing, a Game, 



CONTENTS. XI 

180. On Cases in which the Marker must Replace the 
Balls, if called on, as Nearly as Possible in their Former 
Position, 181. On the Duty of Players to Each Other, 
and of the Marker and Spectators to the Players, 183. 
On the Marker's Duties in Particular, 184. Further 
Rules for the Foregoing Game, when Played as a Four- 
handed Game, 186. Further Rules for the same Game, 
when played by three Independent Players, 187. 

A Code to Regulate the Game of Fifteen-Ball Pool 188 

With Full Instructions for Every Question that can arise 
in its Course. 

Rules for the Doublet, or French Game 191 

With the Same. 

Rules for the Three-Ball, or French Carom Game 194 

With the Same. 

Diagram XXYI .^ , 199 

Illustrating the Three-Ball Carom Game. 

Diagram XXYII 202 

On the Same. 

Diagram XXVIII 205 

Further Illustrating the Same. 

Rules for the Russian Game 207 

With the Same. 

Rules for the Spanish Game , 209 

With the Same. 

Rules for the English Game 210 

Rules for Two-Ball Pool 215 



Xll CONTENTS. 

Rules for Pin Pool 220 

As Played in New York. 

Rules Observed in Playing Pin Pool 226 

At Michael's Billiard Rooms, in San Francisco. 

Rules for the Game of English Pool 232 

Rules for Pool Playing at the Last Player 232 

Rules for the Nearest Ball Pool 237 

Instructions to the Marker 239 

For Keeping the American, or Four-Ball Game. 

Chapter YI 241 

General Summary of Instructions. Conclusion. 

Appendix 247 

Impboyements in the Billiard Table 247 

With Illustrations. 

The Angles Produced by the Cloth, India Rubber and Com- 
bination Cushions 249 

Illustrated by Diagram. 

Further Improvements — Phelan & Collender's Patents. . . . 253 

Humorous Articles 259 

ic Attitude is Everything" 259 

With Illustrations. 

Shakspe are a Billiard Player 265 



THE GAME OF BILLIARDS. 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY AND GENERAL — SOME ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN OF BIL- 
LIARDS, AND AN APPEAL TO THE WIVES AND SISTERS OF AMERICA IN 
ITS FAVOR. 

Man does not live tliat lie may work — at least lie 
ought not so to live in a well-regulated condition of 
society. On tlie contrary, we should rather work that 
we may live ; and whatever system of political economy 
does not embrace certain hours of relaxation, and cer- 
tain methods of amusement, is a false and pernicious 
idolatry, having Mammon for its God, and man's best 
energies and happiness as the victims to be sacrificed 
upon its unholy altar. 

There are two extremes of population, in which the 
sanitary needs of amusement stand a chance of being 
overlooked or crowded down by still sterner necessities. 

Where the population is so dense as we find it in the 
manufacturing districts of England, not a moment can 
be spared from the incessant demands which compe- 
tition makes on toil : labor is there so redundant that 
it loses its proper value, and nothing but the strictest 

[13] 



14 The Game of Billiards. 

and most unremitting devotion to business can secure 
even the barest necessaries of life. Where wealth is 
monopolized in tlie hands of a few, while the millions 
are forever hovering on the very brink of starvation, 
it would be absurd to look either for a general diffu- 
sion of intelligence, or for any system of amusement 
superior to that afforded by the gin-palace and the dog- 
fight. 

Again, on the other hand, where the population is 
disproportionately small when compared with the vast 
resources which lie around it, in a new and undeveloped 
country — where wealth runs to waste on every hand 
for the want of labor to collect and garner it — where 
every man is free to become his own master and create 
a future for himself independent of any other help, — 
in such a condition of society toil rises to an unnatural 
importance ; we reckon time not by hours, but by dollars ; 
and hence it is we find, that in the earlier settlement of 
our country, the grim, puritanical spirit of the original 
immigrants not only discouraged ^'unprofitable amuse- 
ments" by preaching and denunciation from the pulpit, 
but even went so far as to prohibit the most innocent 
recreations by positive and penal enactments. 

How short-sighted such a policy ! what ignorance of 
man's real nature is betrayed in this bigoted and narrow 
course ! For the desire for amusement has been im- 
planted in man, and in all other animals as well, as one 
of the primitive instincts, and for the most important 
purposes : it teaches us in childhood the use of our vari- 
ous faculties — it inspires us with ambition and dexterity, 
and helps to unfold the mind by bringing it into con- 



The Game of Billiards. 15 

tact and rivalry with the minds of kindred youth. In 
manhood it is the best promoter of bodily health, and 
enables us to sustain those serious toils which, if un- 
relieved by some more pleasing stimulant, would soon 
succeed in degrading us to the level of mere human 
machines. 

Instead, therefore, of railing against the popular de- 
sire for amusement, true wisdom would rather seek to 
encourage the spirit, and direct it into such channels as 
would best promote the objects for the accomplishment 
of which we were endowed with it by nature ; and true 
policy would suggest, that, instead of adopting the Eo- 
man plan, where the circuses, or public games, embraced 
the mortal struggles of the gladiators and the deadly 
contests between men and wild beasts, we should return, 
as much as possible, to the old Egyptian system, by 
which the public recreations were made the vehicle of 
imparting all the most important scientific truths, in a 
form so agreeable and simple, that the very meanest in- 
tellect was capable of appreciating and recollecting their 
cogency. Thus the original game of cards, as taught by 
the builders of the pyramids, conveyed a knowledge of 
the whole system of practical astronomy — the " court 
cards," as we call them now, representing the different 
constellations which rule the year, and the numerals 
being marked in such a manner, as to indicate precisely 
the different periods for the overflow and subsidence 
of the Nile, and the various agricultural operations 
thereon dependent. 

But cards have long since lost their character of 
primitive simplicity and instruction ; they have degen- 



16 The Game of Billiards. 

erated to far different service; and, tliongh still 
valuable, in some slight degree, for the arithmetical 
combinations which they illustrate, it is felt, in the first 
place, that their use is fraught with peril ; and, in the 
second, that they are destitute of that bodily exercise, 
without which amusement ceases to be healthful. 

Chess is indeed a splendid game, and may be called 
the tournament of intellects ; it affords a field for the 
development of the very highest efforts of genius — its 
capacities are infinite, and, if worked out in a legitimate 
spirit, would form a mental discipline, not one whit in- 
ferior to the abstrusest propositions of mathematics. It 
is, in fact, so much of a discipline, that it almost ceases 
to be a game ; . it is exhaustive of the brain, and Sir 
Walter Scott declared, as his reason for abandoning 
chess (of which, like Napoleon, he had been passionate- 
ly fond), that ^'the last game he played with Lockhart, 
his son-in-law, cost him more mental labor, and left his 
faculties more prostrate, than the composition of the 
best novel he had ever written." 

Chess, therefore, though an excellent exercise for the 
mind, is too rigorous and concentrated to be considered 
an amusement; it is merely an intellectual combat, 
which calls for no muscular energy, or physical accom- 
plishment ; it teaches neither quickness to the eye nor 
readiness to the hand; and its nature is so sedentary and 
intense, as to be absolutely prejudicial to health, if pur- 
sued to any great extent. But it possesses this advantage 
over cards — an advantage to which we wish to call partic- 
ular attention — that its intrinsic intellectual excitement 
is so strong, as to render unnecessary the money inter- 



The Game of Billiards. 17 

est, or money bets, whicTi are found, to a great ex- 
tent, essential to the full enjoyment of the others. 

Again, in the game of Bowling, we have great phj^si- 
cal energy displayed, while the mind is left in almost 
utter inactivity. A certain physical knack is to be 
acquired, for the purpose of impelling a ball of a cer- 
tain weight, to hit an object at a certain distance, in a 
certain way ; but when once this difficulty is mastered, 
we exhaust the whole resources of the game. The 
physical exercise is often too severe, and there is not 
variety enough to afford a natural excitement — in the 
absence of which we are all too apt to apply ourselves 
to the money-interest of a bet, to make up for the de- 
ficiency which is inherent in the nature of the game. 

From the preceding remarks — if we have caused our 
meaning to be understood — it will be seen that a game, 
to satisfy all the requirements and avoid all the dan- 
gers of a public amusement, should contain within 
itself the following indispensable prerequisites : 

In the first place, it should exercise and dispcipline 
the faculties and resources, both of the mind and body, 
without exhausting or disgusting either ; and. 

In the second place^ it should contain within itself 
sufficient mental excitement and ambition to render the 
extrinsic interest of a money bet superfluous to its 
full enjoyment. 

These, as we understand the matter, are the two es- 
sential points to be consulted in the selection of a game 
to be adopted as a public and national amusement; 
and these we confidently affirm, and the experience ot 
the world will support our assertion, are to be found 



18 The Game of Billiards. 

alone in their perfection in that which has worthily 
been styled 

"the noble game of billiards." 

This game is peculiarly in harmony with the me- 
chanical genius of our people ; it combines science with 
g3^mnastics, teaching the eye to judge of distances, the 
mind to calculate forces, and the arm to execute with 
rapidity and skill whatever the mind and eye combine 
to dictate for its execution ; it expands the chest, while 
giving grace and elegance to the form,"^ and affords 
even to the illiterate mind a practical basis for the ap- 
preciation of mathematical and geometric truth. Al- 
ready this game is the most popular in the thickly- 
settled parts of the country; and there is a growing 
disposition to adopt it as one of the national character- 
istics. Thousands of our wealthiest and most in- 
telligent citizens no longer consider their mansions 
complete without a billiard-room ; and when we con- 

^' According to the best opinion of anatomists, there are in the 
neighborhood of four hundred muscles in the human body ; and 
beauty of person, as well as health, will much depend upon each of 
these muscles being brought into action under proper circumstances, 
and to a suitable extent. Now, the game of Billiards calls into ac- 
tion each and every one of the sinews, tendons, joints and muscles 
of the frame, as any one who will take the trouble to watch a single 
game, must be satisfied for himself. In walking, striking, stretch- 
ing, stooping, and leaning back, the requirements of an ordi- 
nary game place the player in almost every attitude that it is 
possible to conceive. To this testimony of our own senses, we could 
add that of the best medical authors, if we thought that such were 
needed to give weight to a proposition which demonstrates itself. 



The Game of Billiakds. 19 

sider the sedentary habits into which our American 
ladies have lately fallen, we cannot fail to rejoice for 
their sakes, that their homes will henceforth be adorned 
with a means of recreation, which will pleasantly 
compel them to take the needful exercise, and, at the 
same time, so largely contribute to make home attrac- 
tive to the sex upon whose presence their enjoyments 
to a great extent depend. 

The origin of this delightful game, like the birth- 
place of Homer, is a contested point, and its antiquity, 
like that of many elderly spinsters, is involved in con- 
siderable doubt. By some it is supposed to have been 
imported from the Persians during the Consulship of 
the Roman Lucullus ; by others, the honor of intro- 
ducing it into Europe from the Bast, is assigned to the 
Emperor Caligula. 

But be these things as they may, we have no au- 
thentic record of its existence, until the return of the 
Knights Templars to Europe, on the termination of 
the first crusade ; so that, if known at all to the Ro- 
mans, as is generally supposed, it must have perished 
along with many other noble arts on the overthrow of 
their empire ; and unless the diggers at Herculaneum 
and Pompeii, bring us up the charred remains of a bil- 
liard-table, the matter must forever remain a subject 
of uncertain speculation. 

In all probability, however, the game, like that of 
chess, has an eastern origin; the Templars brought it 
back with them from the Holy Land, and it soon be- 
came the favorite amusement and means of health to 
which the cloistered monks of that period were permit- 



20 The Game of Billiards. 

ted by their superiors to have recourse : and however 
much, in these latter days, it may have come to be re- 
garded as a '^carnal amusement," we have abundant 
evidence that it was cradled in the monasteries, which 
were then the fountain heads and only sources of the 
Christian faith. 

Having been introduced into Europe by the Knights 
Templars, the game of billiards shared their fate ; and 
when the power and wealth of that chivalric order 
tempted the cupidity, and prompted the jealousy of 
the European monarchs to their overthrow, the game 
disappeared along with the fortunes of its masters, 
nor was it again revived until the peaceful disposition 
of Louis XI. of France induced him to prefer its plea- 
sant emulation to the bloody tournaments that were 
then the pastimes of his court. 

By one of his successors, Henry HI., it was still more 
widely patronized ; and to that monarch it stands in- 
debted for its appellation of ^^ The noble game." The 
kings of France were, at all times, its most powerful 
and steadfast friends. 

Again we find that the unfortunate Mary Stuart, 
Queen of Scots, complains in a letter to the Archbishop 
of Glasgow, dated Fotheringay, and written the very 
evening before her death, that her ^^ Billiard table has 
just been taken away from her, as a preliminary step 
to her punishment." Doubtless, Mary having been 
married to the Dauphin of France, was introduced to 
the game during her stay in Paris. 

You see, therefore, ladies, that you will run no risk 
of being considered ^Hoo masculine in your tastes," if 



The Game of Billiards. 21 

yon devote yourselves to this delightful household re- 
creation ; for a woman, and a queen, whose misfortunes 
are only surpassed by the lustre of her accomplish- 
ments, has here set you, many centuries ago, an ex- 
ample of loving it with a fervor which even the near 
approach of death could not efface. No doubt also, 
Queen Elizabeth, who was chiefly emulous and jealous 
of her cousin's superior beauty and accomplishments, 
must have been a passionate votary of the game ; and 
in this manner only can we explain the anachronism 
which Shakspeare commits when he makes Cleopatra 
(Act II. scene 5) exclaim to Charmian, ^^Let us to 
billiards!" 

Beyond question, this was one of the compliments 
to the whims and caprices of his mistress, with which 
the poet was in the habit of interlarding such compo- 
sitions as he wished might find favor in her eyes. On 
this point, see a pleasant article, entitled ^' Shakspeare 
a Billiard Player," which will be found in Appendix. 

Indeed, we have often thought that whoever would 
start a good calisthenic academy, with billiard tables, 
and other apparatus for the physical recreation of the 
gentler sex, would entitle himself to be looked upon as 
a public benefactor. The majority of complaints, con- 
sumption included, which afflict the female world, arise 
almost exclusively from the want of exercise, and suit- 
able amusements. "We are told so by the doctors, and 
we know it from our daily experience. 

Now, the game of billiards, though a very gentle one, 
calls every muscle of the body into active life ; its 
attitudes are as diversified as the position of the balls 



22 The Game of Billiards. 

upon the board, and yet tliere is not one of thcni tliat 
is not fraught with easy gracefulness and vigor. In 
the ordinary course of an hour s billiard playing, a 
person will walk from two to three miles round the 
table, besides exerting every sinew of his body in 
other and different directions ; and yet so frequent are 
the pauses, and so absorbing the interest, that the idea 
of fatigae is the very last that will enter the head.*^ 

The grand feature which, we trust, will eventually lead 
to the general adoption of billiards, as the game for 
home — the game to be introduced into the houses, and 
shared with the families of all who are wealthy enough 
to afford such an inexpensive luxury — is this : that it 
will admit of being enjoyed in common by both the male 
and female members of the family or circle. Neither 
sex can enjoy an amusement so rationally, or innocently, 
when alone : for they exert a happy influence on each 
other when in company, and more than one half of the 
vices and follies which affect society, result from the 
separation of the sexes in the pursuit of their different 
amusements. Those giant plague-spots of society, as 
at present constituted, gambling and intemperance, 
seldom dare to show their features in the drawing-room, 

fc * Exercise to be efficacious for good even in the healthy, must be 

excited, sustained, and directed by that nervous stimulant or odic 
force, as it is called, which gives the muscles the chief part of their 
strength, and contributes to the sustenance of the parts in a state 
of activity. In short, to obtain the full advantage of the nervous 
stimulus in exercise, we must be interested in what we are doing. 
Billiards supplies this excitement, and, therefore, it is, that the exer* 
cise which we take at the game is so particularly healthy. 



The GrAME of Billiards. 23 

wMe they often obtrude their un welcome presence into 
places, from which ladies are excluded. 

Look, ladies, at the billiard table as a means of do- 
mesticating your husbands and brothers — as a means 
of making home so agreeable that they will seldom 
care to leave it, except on business or in your society 
— and say, if the general introduction of the game as 
a household appendage be not worth your very serious 
consideration. 

A first-class table, furnished with all the modern 
improvements, would cost much less than the price 
of a good piano ; it would permit any number from 
two to ten to play on it at once with ease, and would 

^ We have often heard gentlemen regret that they could not have 
a billiard table in their own houses, on account of a prejudice which 
their wives entertained, that the game was connected with gambling. 
No illusion could be more baseless, or more prejudicial to the best 
interests of families : baseless, for the game is no more a gambling 
one than chess — its intellectual interest suffices without the un- 
natural stimulus of a bet ; and the ladies might, with much more 
reason, object to the election of a President, because we know that 
large sums are constantly staked upon the success of the rival can- 
didates. It is prejudicial, we add, because everything that makes 
home less agreeable to the head of a family, tends in so much to 
alienate him from that sphere in which his pleasures should be found. 
If the true domesticating influence of billiards were understood, 
every wife would be most anxious to provide her husband with a 
table ; for the mind needs amusement after the business of the day, 
and persons who have been sitting for eight or ten hours at the desk 
or in the library need exercise ; the game of billiards combines 
these two essentials in their most pleasing form, and what wife 
would not rather see her husband enjoy himself at home than find 
him obliged to go abroad for relaxation ? 



24 The Game of Billiakps. 

likewise afford amusement and a certain amount of 
mathematical instruction to as many as could con- 
veniently sit round and watch the progress of the 
game. 

In France and Germany, and in this country also to 
a growing extent, the ladies have for many years par- 
ticipated in this noble game. The greatest, the wisest, 
and one of the purest of modern women, the celebrated 
Madame de Stael, was an enthusiastic advocate of bil- 
liards, and one of the most brilliant players of her age ; 
even when exiled to Switzerland by order of Napoleon 
she overstayed the time limited for her departure from 
Paris, in order that she might personally superintend 
the removal of her billiard table. The late Duchess 
de Berriwas also very fond of the game, and highly 
skilled in its execution ; her example gave the tone to 
Parisian fashion, and to-day the billiard room is re- 
garded as an indispensable adjunct to every chateau of 
any pretension on continental Europe. 

In country houses, removed from the theatres and 
operas, the balls and soirees of metropolitan society, 
the *' noble game" would supply the place of these ex- 
citements with something healthier and purer. We 
should all sleep more soundly, if we made it a rule to 
play billiards for an hour or two each evening, before 
going to bed. Our wives and children would be more 
healthy and happy, more affectionate and fond of 
home ; for there is nothing which endears the family 
circle so intimately, as the recollection of amusements 
shared in common — of games in which we all took 
part. 



The Game of Billiards. 25 

At tte game of billiards, more than at any other 
I game or exercise within our knowledge, the observer 
] of national characteristics will have an opportunity of 
studying those peculiarities of the individual whose 
[aggregate is the character of his country. Thus we 
1 find that the Frenchman, whose artistic eye and mathe- 
matical genius make him the best military strategist of 
^11 the European nations, is also by Tar the most 
Drilliant billiard player to be found in the world : his 
conceptions are daring, and his execution has all the 
finish and rapidity of one with whom it would be pre- 
sumption for a less gifted player to contend : his open- 
ing is a succession of coups d^etoi^ and if we did not 
know that his pace was a ^^ killing one," we should 
feel tempted to throw down the cue in despair, and ask 
the marker how much we had to pay for the table ? 
But, alas ! his success is his destruction ; his most bril- 
liant cowp de main only accelerates his ruin : he is in- 
toxicated by the triumph his own genius has in part 
achieved, and the vivacity of his play evaporates before 
the game is half concluded. For single strokes of 
almost miraculous adroitness he puts forth all the skill 
he is master of; but for the patient foresight and self- 
restraint which are necessary to a prudent management 
of the balls, he is utterly unfit. He would not forego 
the chance of a brilliant shot, even though he knew 
that it mu-st leave the balls in a position from which 
his adversary may make an easy run to game: he 
cares not to win, so long as he can make it clear that 
he could win, if he chose always to play as carefully as 
he does upon occasion: so long as he is confessed to be 
2 



26 The Game of Billiards. 

tlie *^ most brilliant billiard player," he cares not avIio 
is called ^Hlie best." 

The Englishman, on the other hand, in this, as in 
almost everything else, is the direct reverse of his late 
imperial and imperious ally : he looks to the result, and 
does not care the snap of one of his portly fingers by 
what means the victory has been gained, so long as it 
is his, de facto: he knows that his conceptions, though 
profound, are far from lively ; and he flatters his tardy 
execution by the maxim that ^^ all great bodies move 
slowly." He is the very essence of patience and labor- 
ious foresight in his play ; if care could win a game 
the Englishman would never lose. But he is so op- 
posed to "rashness" of every kind — so averse to those 
progressive ideas which he in general sums up under 
the head of 'impracticable," that he would lose a 
stroke which, though difficult, is probable, rather than 
forfeit that reputation for prudence upon which he es- 
pecially prides himself. lie " forgets to remember," 
as the saying is, that it was care killed the cat ; and 
though his game is a very strong one, and perhaps of 
the two more safe than the Frenchman's, still it is 
marred by excess of caution, and numberless counts 
are lost from the timidity which will not stretch forth 
its hand to grasp them. 

Halfway between these two, and combining the pe- 
culiarities of each, stands the American billiard player. 
AVith much of the Frenchman's vivacity, and all his 
hardihood, his conceptions are bold enough to seize all 
the possible advantages of a stroke, and his manipula- 
tion, though less delicate than the Frenchman's, is su- 



i 



The Game of Billiards. 27 

perior to the Englishman's in quickness, ease and 
force. On the other hand, he is proverbially a man 
that calculates the cost of his whistle before sitting 
down to enjoy it : the problem of each stroke passes 
rapidly through his head before he strikes ; and though 
he does not ^'manage the balls" (as a general rule) so 
exactly as the plodding Englishman, he foresees the posi- 
tion in which they will be placed clearly enough for 
all practical purposes, and his judicious audacity 
gives him counts, which the more timid player would 
lose for the simple v/ant of trying. 

It has always been an easy task to speak well of the 
Athenians in Athens ; but we cannot be accused of 
flattering our readers, when we simply state a fact, 
which every observer of experience must have long 
since noted : to wit, that the Frenchman is the most 
brilliant, the Englishman the most careful, the Ameri- 
can the most successful — ^and therefore, if that be any 
argument, as it is commonly admitted to be the most 
conclusive— the very best of billiard players. 

The German game is by far too ponderous and spec- 
ulative a theme for us, to attempt its discussion : its 
theories are no doubt correct— at least, in the absence 
of other proof, we must believe them so ; but as all hu- 
man attainments fall short of the ideal, their execution 
does not bear any due proportion to the amount of 
thought that has been expended on the solution of each 
problem. They are continually attempting fantastic 
strokes, which have little else except their difficulty 
to recommend them ; and their play has all the labori- 
ousness of the Englishman's, without being directed to 



28 The Game of Billiahbs. 

a purpose of the same practical use. Their minds are 
too metaphysical for a game in which manual dexter- 
ity, and mathematical precision of the eye, are the two 
grand essentials of success ; and, however excellent 
their speculations on the abstract science of the game 
may be, we find that they are frequently aroused there* 
from by an announcement that the art of their oppo* 
nent has turned their dream of victory into a dream 
that is never to be realized. 

Italian players play very much as the French ; and 
we have never seen enough of the Eussian mode of 
play to pronounce an opinion. 

Not only national character, but individual as well, 
may be profitably studied in a billiard saloon ; for un- 
der the genial and exciting influence of the game, he 
must be a very cold-blooded or designing man indeed, 
who will not suffer his real nature, at some moment of 
interest, to break through and exhibit itself. 

Having made these prefatory remarks in a spirit of 
conciliation, and with a hope that they may help to 
dissipate some of the well-meaning but mistaken prej- 
u.dice, which persists in confounding this truly scien- 
tific game with the blind and reckless chances upon 
which the gambler stakes and loses all he has on earth 
— health, character and fortune — ^we shall now pro- 
ceed, as well as we are able, to a more particular con- 
sideration of the game of billiards as an art. 



CHAPTEE II. 

ON THE MACHINERY OF BILLIARDS THE TABLE AND ITS APPURTEN- 
ANCES IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CUE AND CUSHIONS THE OPINION 

OF A GOOD AUTHORITY. 

We will suppose that our reader is a perfect novice 
in the noble game — one who does not know a billiard 
from a faro table, but imagines that there is a very 
dangerous similitude between the morals and appear- 
ance of the two. 

Let us now strive to dissipate his ignorance. 

The Billiard Tables commonly in use are twelve 
feet long by six across. The length may vary, but the 
proportions must remain the same ; that is to say, the 
table must be twice as long as it is broad. 

The frame of the ordinary table is made of rosewood, 
oak, mahogany, or other woods, at the option of the 
purchaser. The bed or surface of the table is of timber, 
marble, or slate, and should stand at an elevation of 
some two and thirty inches from the floor. This bed 
is covered with a fine green cloth, and around its sides 
run cushions made of some elastic substances, and 
covered with a similar protection. At the four corners 
of the table there are holes made large enough to re- 
ceive the ivory balls, and beneath these holes are 
pockets of silken netting, into which said balls may 
safely drop. At each side, exactly in the middle of the 

[29] 



30 The Game of Billiards. 

Icngtli, there are similar pockets, making six in all ; 
and along the top of the sides you will observe little 
pieces of ivory or mother-of-pearl imbedded at regular 
intervals, as if to mark some particular distance on the 
board. These are called the ^^ sights," and their use 
will be explained hereafter ; it is enough for the pres- 
ent to observe that there are six of them along each 
side^ and three at top and bottom. 

Formerly each table had a ^^ passe" or iron arch 
affixed to it, through which the balls, at particular 
periods of the game, were obliged to be played ; but 
this obstructive and useless appendage has long since 
disappeared, and its place is supplied by what is called 
the ^^ string," — ^an imaginary line drawn across the top 
of the board, midway between the corner and side 
pockets. 

The Cue is a long, straight, tapering pole of well- 
seasoned white ash, tipped with leather, varying in 
length from five feet to five feet five inches, and in 
weight from seven to twenty ounces. It is ver}^ desir- 
able to establish uniformity in everything connected 
with the game, as otherwise a change of instruments 
may disarrange our previous calculations, and render 
our experience futile ; for this purpose we lay it down 
as a general rule, that the cue should be two and a half 
times the weight of the ball with which we play. 

The improved cue, though the scientific perfection 
of the game depends so much upon its mastery, is 
comparatively a modern innovation, and was assailed 
in its infancy with the same arrogant and blinded 
venom which we find in our own day displayed 



The Game of Billiabds. 31 

towards other improvements of fully equal import 
ance. Be it known, then, that up to the com- 
mencement of the present century, the mace was the 
instrument with which the game of billiards was 
almost universally played. This mace consists of a 
square-fronted box- wood head, attached to a fine ash 
pole, of some four or five feet in length ; it is still much 
used by ladies and children, in their first attempts to 
learn the rudiments of the game. But to return to the 
cue as it was known to our grandfathers at the com- 
mencement of the present century ; it was an improve- 
ment on the mace, we admit, being little more than the 
mace without the head ! It was a simple wooden pole, 
not tipped with anything to break the harshness of the 
stroke, and its improvement over its predecessor con- 
sisted chiefly in the fact, that in playing with it the 
idea of making a natural '^ bridge^' with the left hand 
on the table was first eliminated. 

When this step in advance had been made, it was 
confidently asserted that the force of progress could 
no farther go; the game of billiards had already 
reached its grand climacteric — its zenith, and any fur- 
ther attempt at an advancement would be a step in the 
downward course. 

And yet, at that very time, a new discoverer was 
preparing to effect a thorough revolution in the 
game, and one, which has undoubtedly increased 
the scientific capacities of play to an immense 
extent. Monsieur Minguad, to whom we are in- 
debted for the present wonder working capabili- 
ties of the cue, was a professional billiard player, 



32 The Game of Billiards* 

who had frequent reason to lament the ^^miscnes'' or 
-false strokes which were unavoidable, where hard 
wood came in contact with slippery ivory. To soften 
down the harshness of his stroke and to avoid these 
slips, he conceived the idea of covering the end of his 
cue with leather ; and we can only compare the dis- 
coveries which followed, to those made by Aladdin, 
when, in attempting to clean the lamp of the genii, he 
rubbed it, and found that by rubbing he had created a 
spell which placed an army of magicians under his 
control. No theoretical deduction suggested to Min- 
gaud the wonderful phenomena that would result from 
the apparently unimportant change ; but we must give 
him credit for the untiring and indefatigable boldness 
with which he pursued his chance-made discoveries to 
their legitimate conclusion. 

How astonished were the billiard players and the 
billiard table manufacturers of Mingaud's day, by the 
results of his invention 1 These latter gentlemen then 
thought, as still they seem to think^ that unto them 
belonged a patent monopoly for all the improvements 
that were, or could, or might at any time hereafter be 
made in the noble game ; and when the cue with a leather 
tip was first brought before their august consideration, 
they did not fail to lavish on the discoverer such epi- 
thets as "innovator,'' "dreamer," and others of an 
equally complimentary character. 

" But facts are chiels that winna ding, 
And downa be disputed," 

as Kobert Burns said long ago ; and when the mde- 



The Game of Billiakds. 83 

pendent amateurs of Paris saw the practical operation 
of Mingaud's discovery — wlien they saw the ordinary 
laws of motion apparently reversed in obedience to the 
whim of the person wielding the (then modern) cue — 
when they saw him, with a perfect mastery of his own 
ball, sometimes force it to describe a curve around a 
hat placed in the middle of the board— sometimes 
compel it to make angles diametrically opposed to the 
ordinary laws as hitherto expounded and believed — 
when they saw the same ball apparently possessing 
scarce enough force to arrive at a cushion, suddenly 
gather strength at the moment of contact, and fly off 
with increasing velocity. When they saw these things, 
we say, it seemed to them like magic, and it was lucky 
for Mingaud that the statutes against sorcery had been 
repealed before his day. 

These miracles, as they then seemed, have since be- 
come familiar and explainable. Their exact principles 
and practice will be illustrated in our subsequent engrav- 
ings ; and, with such simple instructions as we mean 
to give, the merest neophyte of the present day will 
be enabled, after a few experiments, to perform such 
strokes as would have won him a wide renown in the 
days of his respected grandfather. 

The balls should be of a uniform size, and from 
two and a quarter to two and a half inches in diame- 
ter. Those of two and three-eighths in diameter, if 
made of the best East India ivory, close-grained and 
properly seasoned, will average a weight of s^ven 
ounces each, and are those best suited to the game, 
and now most commonly in use. Great care should 
2"^ 



34 The Game of Billiards. 

be used in the selection of the ivory out of which these 
balls are turned ; for if not perfectly dry, or, in other 
words, seasoned, when put upon the lathe, the moisture 
will be drawn forth by the heated atmosphere of the 
billiard room, and either an imperceptible bias or a 
perceptible crack will be the result. In either case the 
ball will be rendered useless for the purposes of scien- 
tific play. The ivory brought from the island of Cey- 
lon is the best that can be used for billiard balls, the 
tusks being far more solid than those from Africa, less 
friable than those from Continental Asia, and more 
elastic in proportion to their density than any other. 
They are dreadfully dear, however ; and if any invent- 
ive genius would discover a substitute for ivory, pos- 
sessing those qualities which make it valuable to the 
billiard player, he would make a handsome fortune for 
himself, and earn our sincerest gratitude. 

The Artificial Bridge is an instrument that should 
never be used, when it is any way possible, without 
serious inconvenience, to form a natural bridge by 
stretching forward across the table. It is made of an 
ash pole inserted in a cross-head of a bridge form, with 
three or more notches in its upper side. In any of 
these notches we may rest the cue, when the balls are in 
such a position as not otherwise to be readily reached. 

The Chalk should be carefully selected from the 
best FreAch brands ; for if impure, or retaining any 
of the grit or grease which we sometimes find in com- 
mon grocer's chalk, it is worse than useless, and will 
rather increase than diminish the chances of a miscue. 

The Counters, if for a public room, should be hung 



The Game of Billiards. 85 

upon a wire about four and a lialf feet above the table, 
and running lengtliwise with it. When placed trans- 
versely, as is sometimes done, they are more apt to 
distract the player's eye. For a private room, where 
no marker is kept, a light mahogany frame with the 
counters hung on wires across it, will be found the most 
convenient: it can be placed upon the chimney-piece, 
or on a stand at either end of the table. 

A Billiard Eoom for a single table should be 
twenty -four feet long by eighteen wide — ^but twenty- 
two by sixteen would do upon a pinch. Why will 
not our architects, in their plans for modern mansions, 
make suitable provision for that amusement, without 
which no gentleman's establishment (more especially 
if a country one) can now be considered perfect? 
Even if the builder of a house have no taste for the 
game himself, he should look beforehand, and consider 
that such an accommodation might form an important 
item in the price which a succeeding tenant would be 
willing to pay for it. For two tables, the room ought 
to be twenty-four by thirty ; for three, twenty -four by 
forty-two, and so on, in proportion to the number of 
tables. The light, if possible, should descend from 
above, through ample skylights, so as to bring the 
table within a general focus, and thus prevent any 
shadow being thrown from the balls or cushions. The 
gas-light should be raised about three feet six inches 
from the bed of the table, and supplied with horizontal 
burners, as by such an arrangement no shadow is cast 
trom the pipe. The floor, if carpeted at all, should be 
covered with some thick soft material, to prevent injury 



36 The Game of Billiards. 

to tlie balls in case of their '^jumping" tlie cusliions. 
If not carpeted, as by some preferred, particular care 
should be taken to have the heads of the nails in the 
floor driven down, for a like reason. 

The Cushions of the table are the last, but by no 
means the least, of the appurtenances of billiards, to 
which we devote our attention. Indeed, we purposely 
omitted them from their natural connection, in order to 
give a clearer view^ of their importance, when taken in 
connection with the whole. 

The game of billiards, as we know, is a series of 
mathematical combinations and effects, depending in 
part upon the laws of motion, and in part upon a just 
appreciation of the angles of incidence and reflexion 
which are made by the balls, as they bound from side 
to side, across, and up and down the board. Every 
motion of the balls, supposing the machinery of the ta- 
ble to be correct, can be calculated beforehand, with 
the precision of an astronomical thesis. The weight of 
the ball is so much — the force applied to it is so much 
' — the angle at which it strikes is one of so many de- 
grees — and the result must infallibly be so and so. If, 
therefore, we could suppose the whole machinery of the 
billiard table brought up to the standard of absolute 
perfection,^ and that an automaton player, equally 

* We find, in a work written by Edward Eussell Mardon, a cel- 
ebrated English player, to whom we shall have occasion to refer 
bereafter, a true, and most amusing account of the origin of India- 
rubber cushions. It is so good, that we make no apology for quot- 
ing it in extenso : 

" One of the inventors of the India-rubber cushions, being a bil- 



The Game of Billiards. 37 

perfect, could be made* tlie game would tlien lose " tlio 
delightful flavor of uncertainty" which, even with the 
best of players, gives to it its present excitement and 
zest, and would become a congeries of propositions, as 
dry and uninteresting as the tables of arithmetic. To 
the imperfections of our physical and mental nature— 
to the variability of our nervous condition, and the 
misjudgments of the eye, we owe that admixture of un- 
certainty which forms the highest zest of all cultivated 
and refined amusements. 

Until very recently indeed, the cushions used, were 
notoriously and grossly defective. Those made of 
cloth, from their undue passiveness and want of elas- 

liard-table manufacturer, as well as an excellent player, and quite 
capable of judging correctly, respecting the precision of an angle, 
placed his maiden cushions on a table of his own, and proceeded, ere 
they were exhibited, to try their effect. The balls had not been 
many times struck, before the incorrectness of the angle became ap- 
parent, and their immediate removal was contemplated. The table, 
however, having been engaged by gentlemen at a given hour, and 
the intervening time not allowing of their being replaced by others, 
the cushions were permitted to remain. The gentlemen arrived — they 
commenced playing. The speed, the extraordinary speed, filled them 
with amazement ; and, as the games went on, their delight kept 
pace with their surprise. The inventor smiled, and, if I am rightly 
informed, thus expressed himself: * If the public is pleased, the 
cushions may as well remain.' But, had the table, upon which the 
experimental cushions were ipldiced, been first play ed upon by scientific 
players, the absurdity would have been at once condemned ; their 
removal would instantly have taken place ; and cushions, too fast to 
be correct, would never have disgraced a game, whose beauties and 
scientific properties are governed by, and wholly dependent upon, 
the truth of an angle." 



88 The Game of Billiards. 

ticity, had the effect of deadening the original force, to 
an extent which made the angle of relBexion incalcula- 
bly more obtuse than that of incidence : while, on the 
other hand, those made of India-rubber, from their ex- 
cessive elasticity and resistance, permitted the imping- 
ing ball to bury itself too deeply in their surface — ^thus 
the ball, as it were, extemporizing a cushion in front 
of it^ and rebounding at an angle more acute than 
the angle at which it struck. To India-rubber, as at 
first used — that is to say, in its raw condition — there 
were serious atmospherical objections ; in frosty weath- 
er it became as hard as an adamantine democrat, and 
required to be thawed out semi-hourly, by the applica- 
tion of tin tubes filled with boiling water ; while in 
sultry summer days, the rubber melted, and assumed 
the consistency of baker's dough — ^for which the reme- 
dy, if any, would seem to be a semi-hourly icing. In 
the intermediate intervals between these various opera- 
tions, it must be evident that the cushion, so boiled or 
iced, would present a different consistency each mo- 
ment, and, therefore, must necessarily reflect the im- 
pinging balls at various angles ; and thus, no amount 
of experience could enable a player to counteract by 
calculation the radical defect ; for his ball, striking at 
an angle of 40°, when the cushion was very warm, 
might slide off at the angle 20° ; while, striking at the 
same angle, when the cushion was a trifle colder, it 
would be tossed back at the angle of 50° — and so 
on, through all the varieties of heat and cold."^ 

^ In a work on billiards, published as long since as 1844, by 
Edward Kussell Mardon, a famous English player, we find some 



The Game of Billiards. 39 

Objections of a like nature, though arising from dii- 
ferent causes, attached to all the other cushions which 
had been devised at various times and by various per- 
sons, with a view to remedy this admitted evil ; until 
at last, the writer, a billiard-player, who had 
suffered much from' the irregularities which were be- 
yond his control, and which often rendered his most 
careful play of no avail — determined to try whether 
his practical experience of the evil might not enable 
him to hit upon a remedy ; and was at last fortunate 
enough to discover a combination of substances which 
seemed to supply the long sought for desideratum. 

That his discovery was a valuable one was proved 
by the eagerness with which the established manufac- 
turers of billiard tables laid hold of, and appropriated 

observg^tions, wMch we quote for the support of our remarks. He 
is speaking of the necessity of correct cushions and graduated 
strengths : 

^' In order that success may be insured, it is necessary that the 
speed of the bed of the table and the return from the cushion should 
be equal ; and that they should, of course, continue so from day to 
day ; but I am informed by a maker of experience, intelligence, and 
close observation, that cushions, stuffed with India-rubber, are so 
susceptible of change of temperature, that the effect of it has even 
been experienced during the continuance of a match. Thus the 
best of strengths at eleven in the morning, might prove the worst 
of strengths at five in the afternoon !" * ^ * ^' How wretched, 
to a player possessing an eye accustomed to geometrical demonstra- 
tion, must appear the running of the balls, when returning from 
cushions so palpably untrue ; and how mortifying to witness the un- 
favorable result of a well-played stroke, that ought, with correctness 
of angle, to have insured the winning of the game." 



40 The Game of BiLiiARBS. 

its improvements. That the cushions formerly in use 
were defective and irregular, had never hitherto been 
denied. But when the inventor announced his inten- 
tion of protecting his discovery by a patent, and thus 
reaping some portion of the reward of experiments 
which, though now successful, had not been carried on 
without much anxiety and expense — and when the 
protecting patent was at length, despite their combined 
opposition, granted to him, — the whole merits of the 
case were changed, and the cushions formerly con- 
demned as irregular were extolled as the acme of per- 
fection, while his combination — which they had pirated 
and used, so long as they could do so without render- 
ing themselves liable to the penalties of the law — be- 
came the object of their united defamation. In fact, it 
seemed as if the guild of ^'regular manufacturers," as 
they called themselves, considered that to them be- 
longed a '^heaven-born right" to be the sole intro- 
ducers of any improvement into their particular branch 
of mechanics ; and though they failed themselves to 
make the improvements which were needed, they were 
determined that no '^ outsider" should shame their in- 
efficiency by proclaiming in his own name a discovery 
from which a new era in the game of billiards should 
be dated. If the inventor would have sold his patent- 
right to them, they were prepared to pay liberally (so 
they said) for its use ; but as he had no confidence in 
their professions, and no guarantee that they would 
not, from motives of a mistaken economy, supply an 
inferior combination to that specified in his patent, 
(thereby injuring his discovery in public estimation,) 



The Game of Billiards. 41 

tlie discoverer declined to make any arrangement of 
the sort, and from that moment it became the object 
of his opponents to destroy the favorable impression 
which the combination cushions had already made, 
wherever used. 

But as this may be regarded as an affair of private 
competition, and as the billiard-pla3dng public have 
given an emphatic verdict in favor of the invention, 
the subject may be dismissed for the present. 

The author does so the more gladly, from the per- 
sonal nature of the discussion. He would have avoided 
it altogether, had not the frequent publications made 
on the other side, of a defamatory nature, rendered 
this simple statement due to justice, and to the merits 
of a case in which all who would promote the scien- 
tific development of Billiards, must be deeply inter- 
ested. 

Of the further improvements made in the Model 
Tables which bear his nai^e, the author is restrained 
from speaking by motives which can be easily appre- 
ciated. He will only say that every subsequent im- 
provement in the models (improvements since ratified 
and secured to him by the grant of additional patents), 
was dictated by practical inconveniences which he ex- 
perienced in the old ; and referring the reader to an 
article from the Scientific American, dated Dec. 23d, 
1855, and descriptions of the improvements which he 
has subsequently patented, which will be found in the 
Appendix, he will now take his leave of the '^ machinery 
of the game of billiards," and apply himself to its 
practical and scientific illustration. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE GAME DEFINED, WITH A VIEW TO 
THEIR PRACTICAL APPLICATION IN THE DIAGRAMS WHICH ARE TO 
FOLLOW. 

The art of playing billiards must be taught by prac- 
tical experience ; no amount of intellectual study can 
impart to a novice tlie manual dexterity and adroitness 
wliich are essential to the accomplishment even of the 
very simplest strokes. But a student may save him- 
self months — we had almost written years — of labor- 
ious investigation and experiment, by learning thor- 
oughly, beforehand, the principles of the science which 
he is afterwards to practice and master as an art It 
will be no small gain for l^m if these pages instruct 
him how to start right, from the commencement — if he 
is made to understand what he will be required to do, 
before he attempts to do it ; and if he is given such an 
intelligent view of the game as will cause him to ap- 
preciate, from the outset, the value of the different ex- 
periences which each successive stroke will give. 

Wherever it is possible for the student to place 
himself under a competent professional instructor, dur- 
ing the first month of his noviciate, he should by no 
means neglect to avail himself of the immense advan- 
tages which may be thus acquired. He will be given 
the full benefit of his teacher's experience, and may« 

[42] 



The Game of Billiards, 43 

thus make more scientific progress in a month than 
another player, not possessed of such assistance, could 
make in a year. The original discovery of any one of 
Euclid's propositions might be the task of a lifetime, 
and could only be achieved by a person of mathemati- 
cal genius; but with the aid of an instructor, and the 
benefit of his experience, a boy of very ordinary 
powers may master the whole six books in as many 
months. 

Not only the novice, but the average amateur also, 
would do well to avail himself of the assistance of a 
tutor. As a month's teaching would raise the novice 
to the rank of an average player, so the same instruc- 
tion would elevate the average iimateur to the rank of 
a professional master. 

The present chapter will be devoted more particu- 
larly to the instruction of beginners ; but we are con- 
fident, at the same time, that its careful perusal may 
be of service to all. For how many are there who 
play billiards mechanically, and execute the most 
beautiful propositions without once pausing to exam- 
ine and admire the essential scientific beauty which 
is involved in their mechanical play ! Let them once 
be made aware of the true principles of the art which 
they profess, and the pursuit of it will forever after 
yield them a double pleasure. And first let us con- 
sider the 

CONDITIONS OF A GOOD ATTITUDE. 

The acquisition of a good attitude is a point of 
the first importance to the young student of billiards ; 



44 



Tiiio Game of Billiards. 




and yet, from its pnijply physical nature, is a subject 
which almost defies the control of any written rules. 
There are peculiarities of height and figure which ren- 
der the rules that would be excellent in one case, 
totally inapplicable in the other ; thus it is impossible 
to define by inches the distance at which a player 
should stand from the table, when about to strike ; for 
not only will the different statures of men cause a dif- 
ference of position — but, even with the same player, 
different positions of the ball will call for correspond- 
ing changes of attitude. 

Under these circumstances, the best we can do is 
to give a general direction, which each student must 
apply for himself to his own particular case. Let him 
stand with his left foot slightly advanced, his left arm 
extended and resting on the table to form a bridge, 
and his body, not facing the table squarely, but form- 
ing an acute angle with the side at which he stands ; 



The G-ame of Billiards. 45 

let him relax all the muscles of his limbs into their 
usual and most natural posture— for rigidity of body- 
is at all times awkward and ungracefulj and seriously 
interferes with play. The cue, though allowed to rest 
loosely in the hand at the time of drawing back, should 
be held firmly at the moment of contact with the ball ; 
and in all strokes, except the *^jump" and '^perpen- 
dicular force," the direction of the cue should be main^- 
tained as much as possible in the horizontal. The 
striking motion should be confined to the arm, and 
chiefly to the lower divisicm of it; the '^shoulder^^ 
hitters," in billiards, or those persons who throw their 
bodies forward after the cue, would do well to re* 
nounce the ^' noble game," and turn their evident 
capacities to what its professors call ^* the noble art of 
self-defence." Their shoulder*hitting might make them 
first rate pugilists, but totally unfits them for a game 
in which delicacy of touch and firmness of body, eye 
and purpose, are the grand essentials of success. The 
body should remain immovable as a rock, while the 
right arm swings to and fro at a sufiicient distance to 
avoid contact with the side, when advancing. All 
spasmodic motion and muscular contortions should be 
avoided ; mere bodily strength in the player will not 
give strength to his stroke ; the quantity of motion 
imparted to the ball will correspond precisely with 
the weight of the cue multiplied by the velocity with 
which it is advancing at the instant of contact ; and 
therefore the only force required from the player, even 
for the strongest stroke, is force enough to cause his 
cue to move forward at a rate of speed which^ multi- 



46 The Game of Billiards. 

plied by its gravity, -vrill give the required result. As 
aforesaid, this motion should emanate especially from 
the fore-arm. It is impossible to describe exactly what 
we wish to convey ; but if our readers, when striking, 
will imagine that they are throwing a lasso, and give 
the same quick, steady force of wrist to the cue that 
is required in flinging the coil, they will understand 
exactly what we mean. 

It is owing to the knowledge of this secret, that 
men, physically weak, are frequently more than a 
match in billiard-strength for players who have the 
proportions of Hercules, and the ^^ dead pull'' of Samp- 
son when he brought down the pillars of the temple 
on the heads of the assembled heathen. 

The attitude of ladies, when playing, is much sim- 
pler, from the fact that, as they almost universally 
use the mace, they are not called upon to lean forward 
to form a bridge with the left hand. The end of the 
mace which they hold, should be rested between the 
thumb and second finger, in such a position that the 
eye may run along it from its top to the point of con- 
tact ; the head of the mace should be in contact with 
the ball at the moment of playing; and when the 
purpose of the stroke is determined, the forefinger 
should be brought firmly down upon the end. It is 
quickness, not actual physical force, that imparts 
strength to the ball, whether shoved with the mace 
or struck by the cue. As for the attitude in which a 
lady should stand while playing billiards, no instruc- 
tion is needed ; perfect ease is perfect grace, and per- 
fect ease of position is the grand desideratum for the 



The Game of Billiards. 47 

billiard-player. As the ladies are always graceful, or 
at least study to be so, they will naturally observe 
that ease of attitude which it is only necessary to en- 
force upon the ruder and more awkward sex. 

To the male novice we would say : avoid all stiff- 
ness and parade — avoid all affected dignity. Let your 
dress and attitude be such as to afford your body a 
perfect mastery of its own movements. A practiced 
eye can discriminate at the first glance on entering a 
billiard-room, which is the really skilful player, and 
which the pretentious bungler, by merely noting the 
contrast which the good player's easy grace presents 
to the rigid formalism of the other. Paganini, in his 
younger days, when he taught the violin, used to give 
his pupils six months time in which to practice how to 
hold the instrument and bow. When they understood 
that thoroughly, he could teach them, he said, the 
remainder of the art in a few weeks. 

Now, without requiring so long an §ipprenticeship— 
without, in fact, requiring any apprenticeship at all — 
if the student will only allow himself to stand in his 
natural position, we insist upon it that the attitude and 
mode of holding the cue are just as important to the 
billiard-player, as Paganini pronounced the things 
aforesaid to be to the aspiring musician. 

The left foot should be pushed slightly forward, 
pointing straight ahead, while the right is withdrawn, 
and turned outwards, at whatever angle is habitual 
and most convenient to the player. The body should 
be fairly balanced, for without this equilibrium, we 
can neither have grace nor ease. The left arm, when 



48 TiiE Game op Billiards. 

necessary, sliould be advanced and rested on the table 
- — the left hand being extended, as in the cut, to form 
a *' bridge." 



The bridge is formed by placing the left hand about 
six inches from the ball to be played on, and then 
drawing it up until it rests on the ends of the fingers 
and wrist, or ball of the hand, at an angle which is 
here represented. The thumb is then brought up 
firmly to the forefinger, so as to form a groove in 
which the cue may slide. The wrist, and points of 
the fingers, should be moderately pressed upon the 
table, to give strength and solidity, and then you have 
a ^' bridge" over which you may travel pleasantly and 
Bafely, into the golden realm of billiards. 

The right arm, holding the cue, should be a little 
withdrawn, bent so as to form an obtuse angle at the 
elbow, and kept sufiiciently far from the body to ren- 
der its advance and retreat unimpeded; for if the 
player fall into the habit of allowing the arm, while 
striking, to rub against the side, he may as well give 
up all further attempts to learn the game, until he shall 
have first unlearned that habit. The cue should be 
held firmly, but without eff'ort, in the hand, and moder* 
ately pressed upon the bridge, so as to avoid vibration 
while in the act of making the stroke ; especially, in 
all attempts at making the ''force," ''following," and 



The Game of Billiards. 49 

^Hwist" strokes, which will be described hereafter. 
Our readers may get a better idea of our meaning by 
studying the accompanying plate, and placing them- 
selves in what we may literally call ^' the striking 
position," which the gentleman there occupies. 

The attitude in which a lady stands while playing 
billiards, is less difficult to explain, and may almost be 
studied from the illustration. The mace is a simpler 
instrument, inasmuch as it requires no bridge to be 
formed, and, consequently, no exertion in leaning or 
stretching forward over the table ; but where a lady 
uses the cue in playing, as we counsel them to do, the 
same rules will of course apply to her that we have 
laid down in the preceding paragraphs. 

But to return to our directions for gentlemen, who 
really need more guiding: let the arm hang free, and 
strike with the whole of it ; but keep the body firm, 
and do not let the right shoulder move forward in the 
same direction with the arm when you strike. Let 
the stroke be delivered in an even, easy, and regular 
manner. Avoid all spasmodic movements, for they 
spoil the aim. Do not bring the end of the cue too 
close to the ball. Let there be a distance of from one 
to two inches between them, depending on the charac- 
ter of the shot you wish to make. 

Select a cue in harmony with your physical powers, 
and accustom yourself as much as possible to play 
with cues of a similar weight. If you play regularly 
in any billiard-saloon, they will be happy to keep a 
cue for your especial use. From fifteen to sixteen 
ounces are fair weights, according to the size of 



ou Thii: Game of Billiards. 

the balls now used in play. A cue, if too heavy, 
will paralyze the nerves of the arm and render 
them unable to estimate correctly the amount of force 
employed : if too light, on the other hand, it will call 
for an amount of force so great as to be incompatible 
with a steady and deliberate aim. Finally, let the 
cue be straight, for any crookedness in this instrument 
distracts the eye, and may seriously interfere with the 
manual correctness. The cues with inlaid and orna- 
mental stocks are more to be admired than desired. 
As memorials of either friendship or victory they are 
most excellent ; but for playing — give us the simple 
ash pole, tipped with leather. 

In a little poem in the Appendix, entitled *' Atti- 
tude is Everything," the writer — a celebrated amateur 
of this city, and one for whose many favors we here de- 
sire to make our sincere acknowledgments — has hit 
off admirably, some of the leading peculiarities of style 
which disfigure wen the most careful play. His 
poem fitly illustrates the adage that nothing forbids 
us to tell sober truths with a laughing lip ; and as we 
could add nothing to the force of his descriptive sar- 
casm, it is better to let our readers have his observa- 
tions — with all which we entirely agree — put forward 
in his own pleasant style. The poem, with copious 
illustrations, will be found in the Appendix. 

The leather is an important feature of the cue — ^in 
fact, an all-important one to any player who deals 
much in the strokes which are technically described as 
''forcing," '^ twisting," and "following." With an in- 
ferior leather, his play will be paralyzed by mis-cues. 



The GrAME of Billiakds. 51 

In selecting the cue-leatlier, choose from the best 
French brands, such as possess the finest fibre, and are 
at the same time solid, pliable, and elastic ; and see to 
it that you have a good, solid under-leather, say a six- 
teenth of an inch in thickness, as that will save the 
point of the cue from breaking away, and will last 
longer than a thin one. Before being fitted on to the 
cue, they should be thoroughly well beaten out on a 
lapstone, so as to prevent them from spreading in the 
course of play; but that side of them which is next 
the cue should be roughened with a file or sandpaper, 
as also the cue itself, in order that the adhesive wax 
may be able to take good hold. Each must decide for 
himself the exact degree of convexity in the leather 
which will best suit his play. When the point of the 
leather becomes glazed from excessive play, a little 
sandpaper should be used to roughen it, so that the 
chalk may stick. 

To the best of our ability, we have now placed our 
reader in a good attitude, and given him such an in- 
strument as he requires for the commencement of his 
studies. Let us now caution him against two opposite 
faults, into which beginners are too apt to fall. Some 
strike too precipitately, delivering the stroke before 
their cue has got properly rested on the bridge. Others, 
at the imminent risk of lockjaw, keep sawing their 
cue backwards and forwards on the bridge aforesaid, 
at least a score of times, before they can screw their 
courage up to the striking point. We sometimes 
almost fear to see their thumbs drop off, worn through 
and through by this protracted friction. In a brass- 



52 The Game oe Billiards. 

finder's store or marble-mantle manufactory, these 
^' polishers" would be invaluable. Aim calmly, strike 
firmly but gently, and content yourself at first with 
centre-strokes: when you have thoroughly mastered 
these, you will find the ''follow" and ''force," the 
"jump" and "twist" strokes easy; but if you attempt 
to learn them all together, you will get them so 
jumbled and confused in your mind as to be indistin- 
guishable forever after. Bear this in mind also, that 
in all ordinary strokes the cue should be held as much 
as possible in a horizontal position. The perpendicu- 
lar, force and jump strokes, are, of course, excepted. 

Perpen- 
dicular. 




Foice 



When you have mastered the centre-stroke, you will 
then begin to study the different effects which differ- 
ent modes of striking will produce. These you wall 
find illustrated in the accompanying plate, and we 
shall endeavor to explain, not only what the effects 
will be, but the principles from which the different 
phenomena take their rise, and which are necessary to 
account for them. 

The cne stroke, marked 1, is called the centre- 



The Game of Billiards. 58 

STROKE, and supposing the ball so struck, to meet the 
object ball ''dead full," or strike it in the centre, the 
motion originally imparted to the cue-ball would be 
transmitted to the other, and the cue-ball would come 
to a full pause, while the object-ball advanced in the 
same right line, and with a force equal to that origin- 
ally imparted to the cue-ball — minus the friction of the 
intervening space and the amount necessary to over- 
come the specific gravity of both. But the friction oi 
the table, meanwhile, has imparted a rotatory motion 
to the cue-ball independent of the original impelling 
force ; so that when the impelling force is all transmit- 
ted to the object-ball, the individual rotatory motion 
will still remain, and the cue-ball may rotate a few 
lengths farther until this has been exhausted. 

The stroke (3) is called the following stroke ; and 
supposing the cue-ball to be impelled against the ob- 
ject-ball by such a force, it will continue to follow or 
advance in the same right line with the object ball, 
although with a decreased momentum. This arises 
from the fact, that by striking the cue-ball above the 
centre of gravity, we impart to it a forward rotatory 
motion wholly independent of the impelling force. 
When, therefore, the striking force is transmitted to 
the object-ball, this motion still remains unimpared, 
and causes it to advance irrespective of the loss of 
force of which it was originally independent. 

The stroke (4) is called the jump, and is of less im- 
portance than the others. It causes the ball to spring 
up more or less from the table, according to the degree 
of strength with which it has been struck. The jump- 



54 The Game (>f Billiards. 

ing motion is tlius imparted on the same principle that 
a ball will rebound, if flung or dropped against any 
elastic surfece, or if possessed of any elasticity itself. 

The stroke (5) we may call the perpendicular 
FORCE, and is one of very diflS.cult accomplishment, 
and therefore seldom played, except in the French 
carom game, where no pushing strokes are allowed. 
Still, there may be cases — the player's ball, for in- 
stance, being placed between two other balls, and in 
such close proximity to both that a carom can be effec- 
ted by no other means^ — where it will be useful to 
understand it. Its principle is identical with — or 
rather the exact converse of — that on which the Force 
is made, and as No. 2 is the most common, we may 
allow its explanation to stand for both. . 

Stroke 2 is called the force, and is one of the most 
beautiful and useful in the game. By striking the 
ball below the centre, and with a quick, sharp force, 
two completely distinct and even antagonistic move- 
ments are imparted to the ball. The one urging it to 
advance in the direction of the impelling force — the 
other inclining it to rotate backwards on its individual 
axis. Let us imagine a wheel, for instance, with the 
rim taken off, and suspended on its axis in the air, 
and we shall then understand the principle in a 

* The reader will see, in one of the succeeding diagrams, a very 
curious instance of this necessity, which actually occurred to the 
author w^ien he was playing a match in San Francisco against M. 
Damon, who was then esteemed the ablest French billiard-player in 
California. Had he then failed to make the perpendicular force, 
the game would in all probability have gone against him. 



The Game of Billiards. 



55 



moment. The same principle will also apply to side 
and quarter strokes, and it is therefore the more im- 
portant to have it clearly understood from the com- 
mencement. 




If we strike the cart-wheel fair in the centre (No. 1), 
its only tendency, supposing it to be suspended in the 
air, will be to advance forward in the direction of the 
impelling force. If we strike it forward and above the 
centre (No. 3), two tendencies will be imparted ; the 
one to advance in the direction of the force — the other 
to rotate forward on its own axis. In the FOLLOWING 
STROKE, which is the same, when the force is imparted 
to the other ball, the rotatory motion still remains to 
carry the cue ball forward. If we strike it downward 
and forward (stroke 4), there will be a tendency to 
lump up from the concussion, and also to advance in 
a line with the impelling force. This can be under- 
stood better by striking an India-rubber ball down- 
ward and upon the side with a hammer, when the ball 
is at rest on any solid bed ; it will instantly spring up, 
and bound forward from the point at which it has 
been struck. If we strike one of the spokes of the 



56 The G-ame of Billiards. 

cart wheel (No. 5), almost perpendicularly downward 
and from -above the centre of gravity, the tendency to 
rotate backward would be the only one communicated 
to the wheel. But with the ball — which is a wheel 
with an infinitude of spokes — this tendency may be 
paralyzed or held suspended for an indefinite period 
by the forward force, but will quickly re-assert itself, 
and cause a retrograde effect. If we hit the wheel 
below its centre of gravity (No. 2), the double tendency 
to move forward in the direction of the impelling force 
and rotate backward^ will be at once perceived; as 
soon, therefore, as the forward force has been either 
exhausted by the counteracting tendency of rotation, 
or imparted to another ball by striking it, the wheel 
or ball will tend to retrograde to the pomt from which 
it started. 

Let this double tendency of motion — this active and 
suspended force communicated to the balls, by the act 
and manner of striking — be attentively studied, and it 
will greatly assist the billiard-player to solve the other- 
wise inexplicable problems which will be presented in 
the very outset of the game. 

Quite similar, or rather, quite analogous to the ef- 
fects produced by striking a ball either above or below 
its centre, on a line drawn through the centre, and 
perpendicular to the bed of the table, will be the effects 
caused by striking the ball either to the right or left 
of the centre, on a line drawn horizontally through 
the centre, and therefore parallel with the table's bed. 
When the ball is thus struck, at a distance of one- 
quarter or one-half from the centre, it will have the 



The GrAME of Billiards. 



57 



double tendency to move forward in the direction of 
tlie impelling force, and rotate horizontally toward the 
side upon which it has been struck. Thus, when 
struck one- quarter or one-half above or below the 
centre on the perpendicular line, it will rotate perpen- 
dicularly either forward or backward. When struck 
in a similar way on the horizontal central line, it will 
rotate horizontally toward the side on which it is 
struck ; but when struck at one-quarter or one half, 

Perpendicular. 



Diagonal. 



Diagonal. 




Horizontal. 



on a line intermediate between the horizontal and per- 
pendicular, it will rotate diagonally, with a lateral and 
following tendency, if struck above the centre ; and 
with a lateral and retrograding motion if struck beloAV. 
The foregoing diagram may make our meaning clearer; 
and it is a point of such importance that, even at the 
risk of tediousness, we wish to impress it on the stu- 
dent's mind. 

3* 



58 The Game of Billiards. 

Witliin the circle which represents the full side of a 
billiard-ball turned toward us, are drawn five diame- 
ters on the following plan ; one perpendicular to the 
bed of the table ; one horizontal or parallel thereto ; 
and two diagonals, one drawn from the left to right, 
the other from right to left, and both equi-distant from 
the horizontal and perpendicular diameters. 

These diameters are intersected by concentric circles 
drawn respectively, with a radius of one-eighth and 
one-fourth of the whole diameter ; but, for simplicity's 
sake, we have marked these I and J-, meaning thereby 
the half and the fourth of the half diameter. We have 
also, on the horizontal, marked the points at which a 
concentric circle, with a radius of three-fourths of the 
half diameter (six-eighths of the whole) would intersect; 
and each reader, for himself, may mark this point upon 
the other lines, when told to strike f above, below, or 
to the right or left. Both upon the pei'pendicular and 
horizontal, we have dotted off subdivisions of eighths 
of the whole diameter, and the same may be applied 
by the reader to the diagonals, we only omitting them 
in order to avoid an appearance of complexity. Other 
authors, we know, have classified the billiard-ball into 
much minuter sections ; but the more important subdi- 
visions are here given, and, with the aid of the wrist 
in striking, these will be found to answer for all prac- 
tical purposes. There are finer touches to be sure; 
but for the present they would only confuse and per- 
plex the student, and lead him into attempting things 
which afe beyond his skill. The attempt, for instance, 
to strike the ball outside of the points marked ^ on the 



The Game of Billiards. 59 

various diameters, generally leads tlie novice into a 
number of miscues ; whereas, by striking within the 
points so marked, with a slightly-increased force and 
quickness, the effects desired can be produced, without 
incurring any liability of the kind. 

To abbreviate as much as possible, we shall have 
recourse to initials only to illustrate our diagrams. A, 
standing for above the centre ; B, for below it ; E, to 
the right of it ; L, to the left ; and D, for diagonal. 
The points marked i, |, f , &c., &c., are those at which 
we suppose the ball to be struck. As the student 
advances, he will, of course, ex necessitate, devise new 
lines and measures for himself. As his mastery of the 
cue becomes more perfect, it will reveal to him the 
points at which his peculiar play requires that the ball 
should be touched, to produce a desired effect ; but 
this explanatory diagram was indispensable to a right 
understanding of our subsequent instructions — though 
we know well that it neither is, nor could any diagram 
possibly be, sufficiently explicit for all the exigencies 
of play. It would require the Newtonian Fluxions to 
calculate the variations of the ball, when struck at 
different distances from the centre : but the reader can 
readily bear in mind what A, B, D, E, and L, will 
hereafter stand for. 

The diagram preceding, (in which we suppose that 
we are looking down upon the balls) will explain 
the different motions imparted to the object-ball on 
being struck by the cue-ball, in the manners which 
are called, in billiard parlance, "Full," "Quarter," 
"Half,'^ and "Fine." 



60 The Game of Billiards. 

The heavy lines mark the course in which the cue- 
ball advances to strike the object-ball. The dotted 
lines show the direction in which the object-ball will 
be driven by the contact. Let it be remarked as well, 
that in the quarter-ball, half-ball, and fine ball strokes, 
the part of the cue-ball which strikes the object-ball 
will exactly correspond to the part which is struck, 
provided the balls be of equal size. It is physically 
impossible with your own ball full, to strike the ob- 
ject-ball quarter. The lines drawn between the cue 
and object-balls, in the preceding diagram, show the 
exact relation which the parts coming in contact must 
bear each to the other. 

The principle exhibited in this diagram is the key 
to the hazard portion of the game. In hazards, we 
may remark, that the point to be gained is to be able 
to make the object-ball move in whatever direction 
you want it : while in the carom game, you care not 
how the object-ball may move after it has been touched 
— so far as that particular stroke is concerned — pro- 
vided you can command the curves and angles, force, 
speed, and retrogradation of your own ball. 

We say that the position which the object-ball may 
assume after being struck, m unimportant in the carom 
game, so far as that particular stroke is concerned ; but 
in the management of the balls, and the ability to leave 
them in a position favorable to the next play — or un- 
favorable to your opponent, if you think it impossible 
to count yourself — the grand strength and science of the 
game is found. Mere ^^ brilliant strokes" by no means 
constitute a first-class scientific billiard-player ; caution, 



61 







• »«1 



The Game of Billiards. 63 

coolness, foresiglit, and ability to leave tlie balls in a 
position from which a good run may be secured (if the 
player is sure of his stroke), are of infinitely more im- 
portance. The really scientific player will never per- 
mit himself to be led astray by the mere certainty and 
ease of making one successful stroke, into a posi- 
tion from which no further benefit can be expected ; 
he will either forego all present gain to himself, in order 
to diminish the chances of a greater gain to his adver- 
sary ; or even attempt a more difficult play, from which 
it is likely some more favorable break may ensue. The 
thorough master of the game is he who never makes a 
count without leaving the balls in a position from which 
another count may be reasonably expected ; or, should 
this be imposible, then in such a position as will ren- 
der the making of a count by his opponent extremely 
difficult. From a break which appears worthless to 
the novice, the scientific player may make a splendid 
run ; and he does so from attending to the proverb, 
which tells us all " to look before we leap. " 

When the player thoroughly understands the fore- 
going diagram, and is able to execute the necessary- 
strokes, we may call him a master of the hazard game. 
It is not our intention to give any regular instructions 
on this portion of the game, further than those already 
given as to the modes of striking the cue and object- 
balls ; for when the player has perfected himself in the 
execution of the theories herein laid down, he will only 
have to aim steadily at the exact part of the ball to be 
struck, to be certain of success. In doing so, he may 
assist himself by drawing an imaginary line from the 



6-iz The Game of Billiards. 

centre of the pocket aimed at, ttrough. the centre of 
the object-ball; and where that diameter terminates, is 
the exact point at which you must strike, to accomplish 
the hazard. 

By attending to the principles already laid down, 
even the novice can become his own hazard-master, 
and it would be a waste of time and space to dilate 
any further upon a subject which is already ex- 
hausted. 

The next part of our subject proper, relates to the 
degree of strength with which it is necessary to strike 
for the accomplishment of various objects. But of this 
we shall treat hereafter, with diagrams to illustrate our 
meaning. 

Meantime, as we shall have to make increasing use 
of such technicalities as ^'hazard," ^' carom/' ^^kiss," 
and so forth — terms completely unintelligible to the 
novice — we had better devote a short chapter to an 
explanation of the phrases peculiar to the noble game. 



CHAPTER lY. 

DEFINITION OF TECHNICAL PHRASES EMPLOYED IN THE GAME OP 
BILLIARDS. 

Hazard. — You make a hazard when yon drive any 
of the balls into any of the pockets. A wmning hazard 
when yon hole or pocket either of the red balls or 
your adversary's ; a losing hazard when your own ball 
is pocketed by your own act. A double hazard is 
when you pocket two of the balls with the same 
stroke. 

Carom. — This word is derived from the French 
carambolage, and you carom when you hit more than 
one of the balls on the table with your own. In Eng- 
land this is called a '^cannon," being evidently a corrupt 
derivative. 

Kiss. — When the ball you play with strikes another 
ball more than once, they are said to kiss ; or when two 
balls not played with come in contact. 

Scratch. — When accident befriends you, and you 
win a stroke or count without either intending or de- 
serving it, you are said to have made- a scratch. 

Force. — ^When your own ball retrogrades after 



66 The Game of Billiards. 

coming in contact with another. We have explained 
this in the preceding chapter. 

Follow. — When your own ball rolls on after another 
ball which it has impelled forward. (See last chapter.) 

Jump. — When you force your ball by a downward 
stroke (as previously explained) to ricochet or leap up 
from the table. 

Bank. — When you make your own ball hit any of 
the cushions before striking the object-ball. The mace 
is sometimes used, even by good players, to make this 
stroke. 

Miss. — When you fail to strike any of the balls upon 
the table. 

MiscuE. — ^When the cue, either from want of chalk 
or being badly handled, slips off the ball without ac- 
complishing the intended stroke. 

Burst. — A term chiefly used at pin pool to signify- 
that the player has exceeded the number which is 
placed as the common limit to the game, and has con- 
sequently either to retire from the game or take a 
privilege of another life. 

Privilege. — A word used in some games of Pool 
to express that the player, having lost the lives, or 
chances, which were given to his ball on its entry into 
the game, now wishes to purchase still another chance 
as a privilege from the other players. 



The Game of Billiards. 67 

Taking a Hazard. — A term used to express that a 
player is so confident of making a certain hazard that 
he will undertake to do it, under penalty of losing, in 
case he does not succeed, as many lives as he would 
have gained if successful. The phrase is most fre- 
quently employed in two-ball pool. 

Killed, or dead Ball. — When a ball in pool has 
lost its lives, and its chances are not renewed by privi- 
leges, it is said to be killed. 

Playing for Safety. — When you forego a possible 
advantage, in order to leave the balls in such a position 
that your opponent can make nothing out of them. 

Hug. — When any of the balls run close alongside 
of a particular cushion, they are said to hug it. 

Jaw. — When a ball is prevented from dropping into 
a pocket by the cushions which extend like jaws on 
either side. 

"Timber-lick," " Bowery Shot" and "German- 
towner" are synonymous terms, all applying when 
the balls played with and at, are jarred together — a 
pushing shot. 

Doublet or Cross. — When the ball to be pocketed 
is first made to rebound from the opposite cushion. 

Foul Stroke or Shot. — Any stroke made in vio- 
lation of the known rules of the game. 

Full Ball, Quarter Ball, Half Ball, Fine 
OR Cut Ball, Owk or Cue-Ball, akd Object- 
Ball. — For a correct definition of these, see the prece- 



68 The Game of Billiakds. 

ding chapter^ wliicli *^ read, mark, learn, and inwardly 
digest." 

Beeak. — The position the balls are left in after a 
sliot has been made. 

STRiisraiNa for the Lead. — A preliminary to the 
game, by which it is decided who shall have the 
choice of lead and balls. See subsequent rules for the 
game on this point. 

Discount. — When one player is so much the supe- 
rior of another that he allows all the counts made by 
his opponent to be deducted from his own reckoning, 
he is said to ^' discount" his adversary's gains. Thus, 
if his opponent make a run of ten, ten is added to his 
connt, and ten deducted from the discounter's reckon- 
ing ; but the discounter cannot lose what he has not 
got. In other words, these deductions must only be 
made from the count he has at the time of the loss, 
and cannot be recovered out of counts he may after- 
wards make. In double and treble discount, twice 
and thrice the amount of his opponent's gains are de- 
ducted from the player's score. In no other game in 
the world are such immense odds possible as in bil- 
liards ; for the difference between players may be as 
infinite as the variety of geometrical and dynamic 
problems which the balls are capable of illustrating ; 
and a man of what is called a mathematic head, close 
observation, temperate habits, steady nerves, and large 
experience, may give almost any odds to an inferior 
player, and still have a fair chance of success. 



The Game of Billiards. 69 

Playing Spot Ball.— Is wlieii the player is not 
limited to tlie number of times he may pocket the red 
ball from the. Spot. 

Billiard Sharp. — The billiard Sharp is a danger- 
ous species of animal, now happily almost extinct in 
these latitudes ; he is to be shunned wherever met, and 
the following are among the more prominent signs which 
nature has stamped upon him, as a caution to the un- 
wary : He is always either over-dressed or seedy ; after 
a ^'run of luck" he comes out in patterns of the ^'nois- 
iest" and loudest description ; his hair is always settled 
by a barber — in all probability his mustachios have 
been dyed ; and you may observe in him, whether his 
apparel be gaudily vulgar or seedily decayed, a con- 
stant effort to ape and '' put on the genteel." The very 
anxiety of the effort defeats the success of its execution; 
and the voice of the rooh betrays his nature, even 
though he has clothed himself in the feathers of some 
plundered pigeon. 

The Sharp, as a general thing, is a retired marker, who 
fancies it is no longer '^ respectable" to work for an 
honest living; and also fancies that he is ''smart" 
enough, and has "learned tricks enough" at his former 
business, to enable him to "win as much money as he 
wants" from the less experienced amateurs of the game, 
who figure in his vocabulary as "the flats." Let not our 
friends, the markers, think that we desire to cast a slur on 
their calling: there are "black sheep" in pulpits as well 
as in billiard saloons ; and the business cannot be held 
responsible for the evil-minded persons who are occa- 



70 The Game of Bilt.iaiids. 

sionally admitted. Sometimes the Sharp is a reduced 
gentleman of loose morality and habits — one who is 
careful to assure you that '*he has seen better days" — 
a man, perhaps, who has been plucked in his youth 
by Sharps now dead and gone, and who endeavors 
to make the knowledge so bitterly acquired, support 
him in idleness and affluence, after his friends have 
been estranged by his vices, and his fortune (if he 
ever had any) been exhausted upon pimps and extrav- 
agance. 

These sharps are rarely seen in a respectable saloon : 
they rather patronize those peculiar establishments 
where a couple of billiard tables are made the '^ fence,'' 
behind which some less reputable occupation is carried 
on ; and here they are at home, and in their glory. 
They are familiar with the proprietors, and make them- 
selves useful in a large variety of characters, in return 
for which they are received as ^^dead-heads'' through 
the day, and sometimes given a sleeping place under 
the table when night comes on, and finds them unpro- 
vided with any other lodging. The natural excite- 
ment of the game is not sufficient for your Sharp ; 
indeed you may detect him at once by his eagerness 
after the first game — which he is generally careful to 
lose — ^^ to bet a dollar or so with you just to give the 
game an interest." He is the particular friend of any 
one who will ask him to ^Hake a drink," and his 
duties to the house embrace the offices of lounger, run- 
ner, talker, player, sponge, shoulder-hitter, and referee. 
This last-named character he is particularly proud of: 
refer to him any question, upon almost any subject, 



The Game of Billiards. 71 

and lie will attempt an answer, totally regardless of 
whether he ever in his life heard a word about the 
matter before, or not ; and his peculiar hobby is to be 
called upon to decide disputed points in billiards — of 
which he considers himself the only recognized author- 
ity, and that his ipse dixit should be law. 

He is also very fond of urging others to make bets. 
He knows more about the game, he says, than any 
other living man, and if he only had a little capital to 
back him — with his experience, a fortune might be 
made in a few days I Not, however, that he is desti- 
tute—far from it : if you judge him by his present ap- 
pearance you will be most miserably sold : for he 
tells you that he has "been upon a spree," but is now 
(and has been for some years, to our certain knowl- 
edge), in expectation of a remittance of a few thousand 
dollars or so from the governor, which will make all 
right. Or, perhaps he is an Englishman (according to 
his own account), just come into possession of an enor- 
mous fortune by the death of a wealthy relative in 
India : the fortune "that was to have arroven, has not 
yet arriv," but the steamer is already some days over- 
due, and if you will just accommodate him in the mean- 
time with the loan of one dollar {five if you look 
green, fifty if you are tipsy), you may rely upon it that 
he will repay you with interest an hundred-fold as 
soon as " that cussed steamer" has come in, and the 
first moiety of his estate is lodged in the hands of 
his family banker. So strong is the delusion which 
constant habit has imposed upon these miserables, 
that they feel quite offended if refused, and will 



72 The Game of Billiards. 

get angry if they see a cliance : whereas, if a party, to 
get rid of their importunity, or as a punishment to 
himself for having descended to talk to one of such a 
tribe, flings them a dollar, or fifty cents, they feel 
none of the gratitude that such an act would inspire in 
the bosom of the common beggar, but attribute the 
success, which is really the result of disgust or weari- 
ness, to their own superior '' smartness'' and the stran- 
ger's imbecility. ^' I guess I was more than a match 
for that fellow," thinks the Sharp ; '' I talked him out 
of it — he couldn't resist me nohow :" — and the dollar so 
acquired is dearer to his diseased imagination than 
would be fifty times that sum, if gained in any honest 
way. 

As we said before, he is fond of urging others to 
make bets — it being impossible for himself to do so, 
(though he would be sure to win,) until either the for- 
eign steamer, or the remittance from the governor 
arrives. He is a matchmaker — ^yes sir-ee ! and the 
best matchmaker to be found on the hither side of Jor- 
dan. Only let him tell you how to lay your wagers, 
and with whom, and you will be sure to win, for he is 
never mistaken. He tells A to bet against B, for that 
he can surely beat him ; he is so sure of it, that he 
will go halves with A in the bet, though the loss, if 
lost, would strip him of his last red cent. To B he re- 
peats the same story, and offers tlie same conditions. 
The match is made, we will suppose, and the Sharp is 
sure of his share, let Avho will come to the wall. When 
either party wins, he will slap him on the shoulder, and 
say — *^ There ! didn't I tell you you could beat him?" 



The Game of Billiards. 73 

He coolly pockets his half of the winnings, and when 
the loser reminds him that he promised to share half 
the losses as well, he is suddenly seized with a great 
deafness, or remembers that he left his purse in the 
oyster shop below stairs, and must go look for it ; or 
perhaps, if his victim does not look like a fighting-man, 
he tells him to ^'sliut up," and that he will pay him 
either when the remittance comes to hand, or on the 
first Sunday that happens to fall in the middle of next 
week. Or perhaps he may condole with the loser : 
tell him the result has amazed him — that he never saw 
more beautiful play in his life than that made by his 
victim ; that nothing but the irregularity of the balls 
or the falseness of the table could have defeated such 
really splendid play: and if *Hhe flat" be verdant 
enough to accept this coin of flattery in lieu of the solid 
currency out of which he has been swindled, the Sharp 
will give him any quantity of it, and on the very lowest 
terms : " another drink" is all he charges for his half- 
hour's eulogy. 

To these sources of profit, the Sharp adds that of 
runner and peripatetic blower to disreputable houses 
engaged in the manufacture of billiard tables. They 
supply him with clothes, to enable the fellow to mingle 
in respectable society, and allow him an enormous 
percentage for every billiard table sold to a stranger 
through his agency. 

The Sharp, when engaged as *^ blower," has a double 
duty to perform ; he is not only to pufi* up such houses 
as may have hired him, or with which he is on terms 
of agency ; he must also pull down, as far as in him 

4 



74 The Game of Billiards. 

lies, the reputation of such manufacturers as have the 
honesty to despise and scorn the means by which he 
earns his wretched and dishonorable livelihood. 

Having said thus much of the genus — with the his- 
tory and peculiarities of which we could fill a volume 
were we so disposed — it can scarcely be necessary to 
add that their habits are migratory and uncertain to 
the last degree. As soon as they have made ^^ a hit" 
in one saloon, they dodge off to another, and thus go 
the rounds of the city until all the dens which harbor 
them are, in their own vernacular, *^ played out." They 
then spread their wings for *' fresh fields and pas- 
tures new," and thus come back, after a lapse of some 
years, to the city from which they started, having suf- 
fered various degrees of ignominy and want in the 
course of their wanderings through other towns. 

Avoid all such, ye novices ; and should a stranger 
in a strange room ask you to play with him for any 
sum ^^ just to give an interest to the game," compare 
him mentally with the sketch here furnished, and if 
you find any definite resemblance, be careful to refuse. 

Love Game. — ^Is a condition in which novices will 
be very apt to find themselves, if they commence by 
challenging an experienced player. 

Count. — Is the reckoning of the game. To make 
a count means, to make a stroke which will add some 
figures to your reckoning. 



The Game of Billiards. 75 



A TABLE OF THE MOTIVE POWERS 

TO BE USED IN EXECUTING THE DIFFERENT PROBLEMS LAID DOWN 
IN THE SUCCEEDING DIAGRAMS. 

Previous to the author's former work on the game 
of billiards, no writer on the subject had ever attempted 
to lay down a scale of the different amounts of strength 
that would be required for the execution of the differ- 
ent strokes ; and yet without some such scale, all writ- 
ten instructions might be compared to the play of 
Hamlet, with the prince's character omitted. Of what 
use can it be to tell the direction in which the cue-ball 
should be driven, and the point at which the object- 
ball should be struck, unless we can place a definite 
limit to the strength to be employed in the execution 
of the problem? For the angles will vary, as the 
strength is increased or diminished ; and unless some 
graduated scale can be applied to every stroke, the in- 
structions, so far as practical utility to the student is 
concerned, might as well be omitted altogether. 

This subject was forced upon the author's notice 
when engaged in teaching the game, many years ago. 
His pupils used to complain, that though they made 
the force, or twist, or following strokes as directed, and 
struck the object-ball at the point laid down, the result 
did not answer their expectations, nor was it similar 
to the result of the same stroke when played by him. 

What, then, could the tutor do? If he told them 
to play "a little harder," '^a good deal harder," *' a 



76 The Game of Billiards. 

groat deal harder," '' not quite so hard," "not half so 
hard," " twice as hard," '' extremely hard," — ^he found 
that these terms were indefinite, and that no two of 
them agreed in their interpretation. One of them, if 
told to play "a little harder," would drive his ball 
over the opposite cushion, and away to the far end of 
the room; while the same order, given to another, 
would not call forth the requisite amount of strength. 
Under these circumstances, he found that the first 
step in tuition must be, to afford the novice an accu- 
rate idea of the different quantities of strength re- 
quired for the execution of different strokes ; the table 
of motive powers, illustrated in the diagram on page 
75, was constructed, and each pupil had to practice 
until he could very nearly approximate the different 
strokes, as laid down under their respective numbers. 
This exercise will be found very serviceable to the stu- 
dent, not only for giving him an idea of the quantities 
of motive power, but also imparting general steadiness 
and certitude to his aim. 

In this table the author has taken the amount of 
power requisite to propel a ball from the string to the 
opposite cushion, and thence back to the cushion be- 
hind the- string, as the unit of his calculation. This 
power is marked as Quantity of Power, Number One * 
or, for shortness sake, Q, P., JVo. 1. 

To propel it from the string to the opposite cushion, 
thence back to the cushion behind the string, and 
thence half way down the table, is marked as Q, P., 
. No. 2. 

To propel it from the string to the opposite cushion, 



11 




The Game of Billiards. 79 

thence back to the cushion behind the string, and 
thence on to the cushion which it first struck, is Q. 

P., m. 3. 

To propel it from the string to the opposite cushion, 
thence back to the cushion behind the string, thence 
back to the cushion it first struck, and thence half-way 
down the table, is marked as Q. P., JVb. 4. 

These divisions will be found to answer the earliest 
requirements of the player. As he advances in the 
practice of the game, he will learn to graduate as far 
below Q. P., JYo. 1, as one-eighth of that power, which 
is ordinarily low enough for all practical purposes ; 
from thence he can ascend, in the proportion of eighths, 
to Q. P., JYo* 4, beyond which it is almost impossible 
to retain the command of the balls with any certainty 
of aim. 

Let it be borne in mind that great cue-strength is 
not produced by any violent muscular or bodily con- 
tortions; it depends far more on the looseness and 
quickness of the arm, and the jerk which is imparted 
by the wrist. The motion made, when striking with 
the cue, should be somewhat similar, in sudden quick- 
ness, to that made in throwing the lasso ; and refer- 
ence should here be made by the student to the in- 
structions in Chapter III on this point, under the 
heading ^' Conditions of a good attitude.'' 



83 



EXPLANATION OF DIAGEAM NO. I. 

This diagram exhibits the simple angles produced 
by playing a ball with the different quantities of power 
hereafter set forth. For example: play from the Spot 
at the head of the table at the middle nail or sight 
opposite, with Q. P. No. 1, or upwards, and the ball, if 
struck fairly in the centre, will return over its original 
course, and hit the corresponding nail behind the Spot. 
[In this proposition, and in all others, we suppose the 
cushions to be correct, and the tables level.] 

Again, play the ball from either of the points marked 
2, with Q. P. 2^, and it will return over the correspond- 
ing line at an angle of reflection equal to that of inci- 
dence. 

Play from point 8, on a line between the centre of 
the lower corner pocket, and the nail at the bottom of 
the table, as marked, with Q. P. No. 3, and the ball will 
be returned at a similar angle into the opposite pocket. 
So also with point 4, played on a line between the 
middle pocket and nail with Q. P. No. 3^. 

It will be observed that the more obtuse the angle 
sought to be made, the greater quantity of power must 
be used to effect the object. 

The student who desires to succeed should study 
this diagram carefully, and familiarize both his eye and 
hand with its practical execution. Let him practice it 



84 

as here laid down, and pay particular attention to the 
quantities of power required for the formation of differ- 
ent angles. This is a matter in which each must buy 
his own experience. 

The diagram also exhibits the control which the 
player exercises over his ball by means of the twist or 
side stroke. 

Playing always from the spot at the middle nail of 
the lower cushion, the ball can be brought back over 
the lines marked 2, 3, and 4, at each side of the spot 
from which it is played, according as it has been twisted 
to the right or left. The amount of the twist will de- 
pend upon the distance from its centre at which the 
cue-ball is struck, and the ability of the player to im- 
part the peculiar motion necessary to effect such strokes. 
Considerable judgment is also required to graduate 
the proper quantity of strength. The rebound of the 
ball will incline to that side — whether left or right — 
on which the ball was struck. 

For example : to cause your ball to return over line 
2 to the right, strike it with Q. P. 1^ a mere shade to 
the right of the centre. 

To cause it to return over line 3, strike it with the 
same Q. P. | E. 

Over line 4, strike with Q. P. 2^, ^ E, ^ B, or midway 
between the perpendicular and diagonal below. The 
tendency to rotate backward imparted by striking the 
ball below the centre, exhausts the progressive motion 
and favors the fall development of the twist. 



87 



DIAGRAM NO. 11. 

Exhibits tlie same principle as the preceding one, 
with double or compound angles made. There can be 
no better test of the correctness of the cushions than 
a trial of these strokes. If the cushions are true, the 
ball, no matter how often doubled, will repeat its 
original angle at each fresh rebound. Thus, if stroke 
2 had been played with increased power, the ball would 
have been pocketed in the left hand upper corner 
pocket — supposing, for the sake of argument, that 
cushions absolutely perfect could be found. Of course, 
however, nothing human is perfect ; and the cushions 
most nearly approaching these requirements are the 
best. 

The stroke marked 1, though the ball has there to 
travel over a shorter distance, requires to the full as 
much power as stroke 3, which moves over thrice the 
space. This is caused by the greater obtuseness of the 
angle made by 1. If stroke 1 were played with less 
power, the angle would be more obtuse. 



No. 3. 




91 



DIAGRAM NO. III. 

Exhibits the diiferent angles which will result from 
the same stroke when played with different amounts 
of force. For example : play from the position marked 
with Q. P. No. 2, and the ball after taking three cushions, 
as shown in the line xnarked 1, will be delivered into 
the opposite corner pocket. 

Play the same stroke with Q. P. No. 3, and the in- 
creased strength will cause acuter angles, as shown in 
the lines marked 2. Increase the power still more, 
and the lines marked 3 will be given. 

To account for these changes we must bear in mind 
that a change of axis takes place from the moment of 
contact with the first cushion, and is repeated as often 
as the ball strikes. This change of axis has no effect, 
however, until the ball comes in contact with the second 
cushion. The change which inclines the ball from a 
horizontal to a perpendicular axis, will be strong in 
proportion to the quantity of power used in play. 
When the ball is struck violently against the cushion, 
the cushion, as it were, grips its side, and sends it spin- 
ning forward with a stronger inclination to the per- 
pendicular ; this change causes the ball to be thrown 
back from the second and third cushions at angles of 
reflection more obtuse than those of incidence. 



Supposing the ball to be struck fairly in its centre, 
its axis, up to the time of striking the first cushion, 
will be horizontal ; the effect of contact is to incline 
this motion to change for one on a perpendicular axis ; 
but the former impulse not having been .entirely de- 
stroyed, there is a sort of compromise made between 
the conflicting inclinations, and a diagonal axis, the 
mean between the two, is evolved. This diagonal will 
incline more closely to the perpendicular, in proportion 
to the increase of power employed. But its angles will 
again be modified by its subsequent contact with cush- 
ions 2 and 8 ; and finally, as the strength becomes ex- 
hausted, the ball will again resume its horizontal axis 
in obedience to the laws of gravity and the friction of 
the table. 



No. 4. 




96 



DIAGRAM NO. IV. 

This diagram serves to show the effect of the differ- 
ent degrees of strength when two balls come in contact. 
For instance, play the cue-ball with Q. P. i, at the ball 
in the centre of the circle, full enough to make the 
latter travel over the line drawn from it to the cushion, 
and a carom on the ball at the lower section of the 
circle will be effected ; increase that strength to Q. P. 2, 
and the carom on the ball next above it will be made ; 
then try Q. P. 3|, and a carom on the third ball will be 
effected. In playing these strokes, the cue-ball must 
be struck in the centre, and the object-ball each time 
in the particular place required to make it roll over 
the line which is continued to the lower cushion. 



96 



DIAGRAM NO. V. 

Now that we have endeavored to explain the effect 
of the different quantities of power, we will attempt to 
point out the principles of a "Follow," and a "Force." 
Figure 1, in this diagram is intended to exemplify 
"the Force." 

The intention of this stroke is to pocket ball 1, and 
carom upon ball 2. Play the cue-ball I B, Q. P. 2, and 
strike the object ball | E. For an explanation of the 
reason why the cue-ball rebounds to ball 2, see plate 
of cue -positions, stroke 2, marked "Force," wath the 
remarks thereon. 

Figure 2 show^s the "Following-stroke," ball 1 being 
driven into the corner pocket, while a carom is effected 
upon ball 2. Strike the cue-ball | A, with Q. P. 1|. 
For further explanations, see same plate, (cue-positions,) 
stroke 3, with its accompanying explanations. 



No. 5. 




No. 6. 




101 



DIAGRAM NO. YI. 

This plate is intended to further illustrate the "force" 
and "follow." The cue-ball is that at which the cue 
is pointed ; the object-ball is that in the centre of the 
table ; the balls marked 1, 2, 3, 4, are the ones to be 
caromed on; the lines marked 1, 2, 8, 4, show the 
course the object-ball will take when struck so as to 
make such caroms as represented on the balls of cor- 
responding numbers. For example: to plaj so as to 
cause the cue-ball to follow on in a direct line after the 
object-ball; strike the object-ball dead full, the cue- 
ball to be struck exactly in the perpendicular central 
line, I A, with Q. P. 1, or more, at the player's option. 
To effect a force in a straight line backwards to the 
place from whence the cue-ball started, strike the 
object-ball dead full, and the cue-ball ^ to -J^ B, with 
Q. P. 2i; giving it at the same time the peculiar motion 
referred to in the diagram of cue-positions, describing 
the "force." 

To carom on ball 1 in the lower circle, strike the 
cue-ball ^ A, with Q. P. 3, and the object-ball will take 
the direction of the line 1. 

To effect a carom by a force on ball 1, of the upper 
circle, strike the cue-ball i- B, ^ L, Q. P. 3, the object- 



102 

ball taking the same direction as in the preceding 
stroke. 

To carom on balls 8 or 4 on the opposite side of the 
same semicircle, the same Q. P. is to be used as in mak- 
ing the foregoing caroms, and the object-ball is to be 
struck in the same manner, only of course on the oppo- 
site side — which will cause it to pursue the lines marked 
3 and 4. 

The lines marked 1, 2, 3, and 4, should claim the 
attention of the reader. It will be seen that these lines 
are but slightly apart, compared to the balls thus 
numbered, which fact goes to show that to effect a 
" spread" it is not necessary to hit the object-ball so far 
off from the centre as would appear at the first glance ; 
and here we might as well remark, that this is a danger- 
ous error which beginners are liable to fall into at first, 
both as regards the object-ball, and striking the cue- 
ball. By getting too far away from the centre of the 
object-ball the consequence is a failure to effect the 
stroke played for, and striking the cue-ball in like 
manner is productive of ^'miscues," and other mis- 
haps equally fatal. 

This diagram serves to show also, the almost absolute 
control a skilfal player can exercise over the cue-ball 
by being possessed of the knowledge and ability to 
strike it in the proper place, and to apply that peculiar 
strength and motion to it which are requisite to accom- 
plish the various strokes attempted. 

Thanks to Mingaud for giving us the leather on the 
point of the cue, for without the aid of that, our efforts 
would be vain ; but with it, and the knowledge and 



103 

ability to use it, tlie result is as we see. Some of tlie 
very simplest shots are at variance with, all the known 
rules of dynamics, and it would puzzle the most pro- 
found mathematician to account in theory for the effects 
which are practically illustrated by men not pretend- 
ing to any scientific education whatsoever. 

With these remarks we pass from the *' following" and 
** forcing" shots, and speak of the effect of the '^ twist," 
or side-stroke, on the course of the cue-ball before 
striking a cushion. 



No. 7. 




107 



DIAGRAM NO. YII. 

The circle in tlie centre represents a hat, a plate, or 
any object of similar magnitude placed there as an ob- 
stacle which the player's art is required to overcome. 

The propositions — to play the ball from either side 
or corner pocket around the hat, and hole it in the 
corresponding pocket opposite — are identical in prin- 
ciple, though requiring a different elevation of the cue, 
and different varieties of power. 

To effect the stroke from corner to Corner, the cue 
must be elevated at an angle of at least 45 degrees, as 
shown in the position described as a Perpendicular 
Force (marked 5), on the diagram of cue-positions, in 
an earlier portion of this work. To make the ball 
curve round the hat, passing outside it to the right, 
from corner to corner, — strike it with the Perpendic- 
ular Force ^ L, with Q. P. 2 to 3. Pay particular 
attention to the necessity for a quick, impulsive, lasso- 
throwing movement, as set forth in the instructions 
which are appended to the *' force" (marked 2) in the 
aforesaid diagram. 

To make the ball curve round the object to the left, 
strike with the same elevation and power, but change 
the I L, to ^ E. 

To effect the stroke from the side-pocket, an eleva- 



108 

tion of five degrees more will be required; tlie Q. P. may- 
be reduced to 2^, or even a little less ; but in proportion, 
as the strength and elevation are diminished, it becomes 
necessary to increase that peculiar lasso-motion to which 
we have before made reference. 

In playing these and all other twisting shots, due 
allowance must be made for the curve before the player 
aims ; or his ball will inevitably go wide of its mark, 
either to right or left. K the length of the shot is 
such that the curve will amount to a foot, then the 
player must aim a foot to the right or left of the point 
at which he really desires his ball to touch. 



No. 8. 




Ill 



DIAGRAM NO YIII. 

The purpose of this diagram is to show the effect 
the side-stroke will have on the cue-ball after contact 
with the cushion. Although the object-ball may be 
struck in the same place, the ciie-ball can be made to 
take widely-different courses, as represented. The ob- 
ject in figure 1, is to pocket ball 1 in the corner pocket, 
and carom on ball 2 or 3. To effect the carom on ball 
2, hit the object-ball where the line from the pocket 
would terminate were it continued directly through 
the centre of the ball. Strike the cue-ball ^ E, on the 
horizontal central line, with Q. P. 1^, To carom on ball 
8, strike the cue-ball ^ L, i B, with Q. P. 2 J-. 

Figure 2. — To carom on ball 2^ strike the object- 
ball fine, as represented in diagram, and the cue-ball ^ 
L, } B, with Q. P. 2|-. The object in striking the cue- 
ball below the centre in this stroke, is to communicate 
to it a motion similar to that in the forcing shot ; 
such motion will have the effect of contracting the 
angle produced by the ball rebounding from the 
cushion. 

To carom on ball 8, the object-ball is to be hit as in 
the preceding stroke. The cue-ball to be struck ^ E, 
with Q. P. 1. 



112 



DIAGRAM NO. IX. 

EFFECT OF THE SIDE STROKE AND TWIST CONTINUED. 

Figure 1. — To play on ball 1, pocket it in corner, and 
carom on ball 2 or 3. To carom on ball 2, hit the ob- 
ject-ball so as to hole it, strike the cue-ball J- E, } A, 
with Q. P. 2. To carom on ball 8, strike the object-ball 
I L, yV A, with Q. P. 2h 

Fig. 2. — To play on the ball on the spot, and pocket 
it in corner-pocket, and carom on balls 1, 2, 8, or 4 : 
To effect the carom on ball 1, strike the cue-ball | A, 
yV L, with Q. P. 8. To carom on ball 2, strike the cue- 
ball i A, I E, with Q. P. 21. To carom on ball 8, 
strike the cue-ball i B, | L, with Q. P. 8. To carom 
on ball 4, strike cue-ball i B, j\ L, with Q. P. 8. 



No. 9. 




No. 10. 




117 



DIAGEAM NO. X. 

FURTHER ILLUSTRATION OF THE SIDE STROKE. 

To play with the cue-ball and pocket the object-ball 
in the side pocket, and carom on balls 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. 
To carom on ball 1, strike the cue-ball I A, with 
Q. P. 1. To carom on ball 2, strike the cue-ball i B, 
i E, with Q. P. 2^. To carom on ball 3, strike the 
cue-ball i E, on horizontal line, with Q. P. 2^. To 
carom on ball 4, strike the cue-ball j A^ i L, with 
Q. P. 3. To carom on ball 5, strike the cue-ball ^ E, 
\ B, with Q. P. 3^. Thus, it may be perceived, that 
with the aid of the side-stroke and force, the cue-ball 
can be made to take almost any course the player de- 
sires. The object-ball is to be hit so as to hole it in 
the side-pocket, in each of these caroms. 



118 



DIAGRAM NO, XI. 

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE KISS AND SIDE STROKE. 

To play on ball 1, and carom on balls 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 
and 7. To carom on ball 2 by a kiss, strike the cue- 
ball i A, 1 L, with Q. P. 21 the object-ball to be hit 
I E. To carom on ball 3, strike with same strength 
the object and cue-ball, hitting as above, only on the 
opposite side. To carom on ball 4, strike the cue-ball 
i E, I B, Q. P. 2|, the object-ball to be hit fine on the 
left. To carom on ball 5, strike the cue-ball i L, |- B, 
with Q. P. 3, the object-ball to be hit f L. To carom 
on ball 6, strike the cue-ball i E on the horizontal 
line with Q. P. 2, the object-ball fine to the right. 
To carom on ball 7, strike the cue-ball ^ B, ^ L, 
with Q. P. 3^, the object-ball to be hit a half ball to 
the left. 



No. 11. 




No. 12. 




123 



DIAGRAM NO. XII. 

FURTHER ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE KISS AND SIDE STROKE. 

ExPLAN'ATiON' OF FiG. 1. — The three balls num- 
bered 1, 2, and 3 in this figure, are intended to be the 
cue-balls, ball A the object-ball, and ball B the one to 
be caromed on; the lines marked 1, 2, and 3 the course 
the cue-balls will take, according to their respective 
numbers. For example, play with ball 1, from position 
as represented, with Q. P. 2|-, strike it ^ A, the object- 
ball to be hit i to the right, and the carom will be 
effected by the "kiss." Then again play with ball 2 
with the same strength, strike it I- A, J R, the object- 
ball to be hit I R, and the carom will be effected by 
the cue-ball describing curves similar to those marked 
by line 2. Again, play with ball 3, strike it^'R,^ A, 
with Q. P. 3i, and the carom on ball B will be effected 
by a sort of hugging tendency of the cue-ball, after 
forming curves similar to those represented by line 3. 

The student should pay particular attention to this 
Figure, as there are certain principles represented by 
it, which will be very essential for him to have a 
knowledge of. 

In all of these strokes the cue-ball has a following 
tendency, caused by the cue striking it above the 
centre, consequently it hugs the cushion. In No. 1 



124 

this tendency is eflfected by the simple stroke above 
the centre, but in Nos. 2 and 3 the cue-ball also re- 
quires striking to the right, as well as above the centre, 
owing to its relative position to the object-ball. 

In No. 2, I E is sufficient to effect this purpose, but 
in No. 3 the cue-ball must be struck -J E, in conse- 
quence of the greater acuteness of the angle formed by 
the lines drawn from it to the object-ball, and from the 
latter to ball B. If, in these two strokes, the cue-ball 
were struck to the left, it would either stop under the 
cushion, or take a direction to the left, the very oppo- 
site to that which the striker intended. 

Fig. 2. — To play on ball C, and carom on ball D, 
strike the cue-ball I L, with Q. P. 1, the object-ball to 
be hit dead full. To carom on ball B, hit the object- 
ball dead full; strike the cue-ball J A, with Q. P. 2|. 



No. 13. 




127 



DIAGRAM NO. Xm. 

FURTHER ILLUSTRATION OP THE KISS AND FORCE. 

Fig. 1. — To play on ball 1, kiss on ball 2, and carom 
on ball 3. Hit the object-ball ^ E, strike the cue-ball 
i A, i L, with Q. P. 2. 

Fig. 2. — To play on ball 1, carom on ball 3, and, 
by a force, carom on ball 2. Strike the cue-ball ^ B, 
j E, with Q. P. 3^, the object-ball to be hit fine on the 
left, as represented in diagram. 



128 



DIAGRAM NO. XIY. 



MORE OP THE KISS. 



To play on ball 1, and, by a kiss, carom on ball 2. 
Strike the cue-ball -I B, |- L, with Q. P. 3^, the object- 
ball to be hit yV E. 

The object of this diagram is to show the effect of a 
twist on the cushion. When played as represented, 
the cue-ball will be thrown off in a direction opposite 
to that it would have taken, had it hit the cushion 
where ball 1 is situated. The dotted line is intended 
to show the course the ball would have taken, had it 
been played without the ^' twist" or side-stroke. 



No. 14. 




No. 15. 




i ^^ \ 



I 



\ , ^ 



i 



183 



DIAGRAM NO. XV. 

FORMING CURVES BY A FOLLOW AND A FORCE. 

Fig-. 1. — To place a ball Tipon each spot, and carom 
upon them by means of a follow, the cue-ball trans- 
cribing a curve around a hat, which occupies the posi- 
tion of the circle. Strike the cue-ball i A, -J L, with 
Q. P. 8, the object-ball to be hit ^ E, so that it shall 
take the direction of the dotted line. 

Fig. 2. — To effect a carom with a force, the cue-ball 
transcribing a curve around a hat occupying the posi- 
tion of the circle. Strike the cue-ball -J- B, i L, with 
Q. P. 3i, and the object-ball i E. In effecting this 
stroke, the bridge and cue require to be somewhat ele- 
vated, to give a slight hop to the cue-ball. 



134 



DIAGEAM NO. XYI. 

MANAGING THE BALLS SO AS TO LEAVE GOOD " BREAKS." 

A perfect mastery of this art is probably tbe most 
important to the player, of all other branches of the 
science. After he has mastered the follow, the force 
and the twist, shill^ science^ and judgment combined ai*e 
the three essentials for the student to acquire. For 
instance, the player may have a simple stroke, either 
a hazard or a carom, which, when effected, will leave 
the balls in a position where even an adept would find 
it dif&cult to count. There may, at the same time, be 
other strokes on the table less easy to effect, but which, 
if made, would leave the balls in a position 'favorable 
for a run ; in such a case judgment would decide that 
the player should attempt the more difficult stroke, to 
avail himself of the prospective advantages which prob- 
ably will result from it. Judgment makes the great 
difference between players — one exercising it frequently 
contending successfully against an opponent who is his 
superior in execution. 

Strike the cue-ball i B, | L, with Q. P. 2|, the ob- 
ject-ball to be hit so as to make it roll over the lines, 
as represented, and the player will have a break of 
balls, which, with judicious management, will enable 
him to effect a long run. 



No. 16. 




No. 17. 




189 



DIAGEAM NO. XYII. 

ANOTHER ILLUSTRATION ON MANAGING OR NURSING THE BALLS. 

Fia. 1. — To play on ball 1, and effect a carom, leav- 
ing a good break : strike tlie cue-ball -J- B, -J- L, with 
Q. P. 1^, tlie object-ball to be hit so as to make it roll 
over the line, as marked, and the balls will approxi- 
mate the positions designated by the black spots. 

Fia. 2. — To effect a carom, and leave a break similar 
to that designated by the black spots : play the cue-ball, 
as represented, against the cushion, striking it ^ L, 
with Q. P. U. 



140 



DIAGRAM NO. XYIII. 

FURTHER ILLUSTRATIONS ON NURSING OR MANAGING THE BALLS. 

We will suppose tlie cue-ball to be in hand, and one 
of the balls a trifle out of the string, the other two in po- 
sitions as designated. Here are three different positions 
represented by Nos. 1, 2, and 3, in either of which the 
cue-ball may be placed. To play from position marked 
1, and force back as represented : strike the cue-ball 
f B, I L, with Q. P. 1|, hitting the object-ball so that 
it rolls over and returns by line 1. Again, from po- 
sition 2 : strike the cue-ball f B, f L, with Q. P. 3, the 
object-ball to be hit so as to roll over line 2. From 
position 3 : strike the cue-ball I E, with Q. P. 2, the 
object-ball to be hit | E, so as to make it roll over line 
4 ; and the presumption is, that good breaks will be 
the result of each stroke. 



No. 18. 




No. 19. 




145 



DIAGRAM NO. XIX. 

TAKING ADVANTAGE OP THE CHANCES FOR MAKING POINTS. 

In playing billiards we frequently find the balls in 
a position where a count can be effected in several dif- 
ferent ways. In such cases, it is advisable for the 
player to take into consideration the probabilities of 
effecting the stroke, and the position of the balls there- 
after. If the stroke be at all doubtful, he should play 
where he would have the greatest prospect of success, 
or, in other words, 'Hake the chances." 

We will again suppose the cue-ball to be in hand, 
and the player wishing to secure a good break. If he 
is playing the usual game, it would be advisable for 
him to play on the object-ball, so as to pocket it and 
return over line 1, in this way taking three chances to 
make a count. If he is playing caroms alone, it would 
be better for him to play on the left of the object-ball, 
so as to draw it back in the string, as near the other 
balls as possible. To make the first stroke : strike the 
cue-ball ^ A, ^ E, with Q. P. 2|-, and if the object-ball 
be pocketed in the corner, as represented, the carom 
will be made on one of the balls numbered 2 and 3. 
To make the second stroke : strike the cue-ball { A, 
i E, with Q. P. 2|-, the object-ball to be hit f L. 

7 



No. 20, 




149 
DIAGRAM NO. XX. 

SOME FANCY SHOTS IN COMMON USE. 

"We have hitherto confined our attention to the illus- 
tration of what may be called the regular game, and 
the explanation of those principles which are essential 
even to common proficiency ; we did so, lest the student 
should embarrass his first efforts with attempting strokes 
beyond his skill. 

In the above diagram we have set forth a few of the 
fancy shots, now in very general use, and proposed 
among good players as a test of peculiar skill. In car-. 
tain positions of the game, the adept will find them do 
good service ; but we must still caution the novice that 
the penalty, should he attempt them, will very likely 
be a rupture of the cloth. It is almost impossible to 
give an exact verbal description of these strokes ; and 
players who aspire to make them, should put them- 
selves, for a day at least, under the tuition of a com- 
petent instructor ; it would be cheaper to pay him five 
dollars for an hour's instruction, and then be master 
of the art, than have to pay thirty dollars for a new 
cloth, and still remain ignorant of what had caused the 
mistake. 

Fig. 1. — To play on ball 1, and, by a perpendicular 
force, bring back the cue-ball so as to carom on ball 2 : 
the cue-ball is the central one in this figure. The cue 
should be elevated, as marked in the plate of cue po- 



150 

sitions, to an angle of at least forty-five degrees; the 
cue-ball should be struck as marked and described in 
said plate, with Q. P. 2 — the object-ball to be struck 
dead full. 

Fig. 2 — Is another perpendicular force, the object 
being to carom onballs i and 2, as represented. Ele- 
vate the cue, as before, and take aim for that part of 
the indented line where the curve first begins to act ; 
strike the cue-ball } E, with Q. P. 2^. 



These strokes are particularly needed in playing the 
French carom game, and are much practiced by the 
^eminent players of France. Their usual game having 
no hazards in it, they excel in caroms, on the principle 
that makes a blind man's sense of touch so much more 
exquisite than the same sense in persons who can both 
see and feel ; — so masterly is their execution of these 
particular forces, that w^ere w^e to delineate some of the 
shots wdiich we have seen them make, and made our- 
selves under their instructions, the reader would be in- 
clined to suspect us of pushing his credulity too far. 
For our own part, we profess no peculiar expert ness 
in these strokes — at least none that M. Berger would 
consider w^onderful ; for the nature of our game does 
not so frequently call for them. The novice must be 
careful to arrest his cue after the stroke is delivered, 
for otherwise the cloth may suffer ; this is all the more 
difficult from the quickness, vigor, and vivacity which 
the stroke imperatively demands. The remaining 
problems are less difficult. 



151 

Fig. 8. — To play on ball 1, and by a curve to clear 
ball 2, and carom on ball 3. Strike the cue-ball ^ A, 
i E, with. Q. P. 3| ; the object-ball must be struck 

tV r- 

Fig. 4 — Is to play on ball 1, and, by a curve which 
shall clear ball 2, to carom back on ball 3 : to do this, 
strike the cue-ball |- B, j L, with Q. P. 3|, the cue to 
be elevated at an angle of not more than thirty degrees. 
This degree of elevation w^ill give a combination of the 
^'jump" and ^'perpendicular force" strokes^ marked in 
the plate of cue positions, without which the sti'oke 
could not be made. The jump will cause the cue-ball 
to advance beyond ball 2, because its retrograding 
motion cannot comxC into play, until after its contact 
with the table ; as soon as the friction begins to act 
against the retrograding tendency {{, e., after it has 
jumped beyond*ball 2), it will then recede, in a carve, 
as marked, and strike ball 3. Mr. J. N. White, of 
Philadelphia, particularly excels in this shot. 

♦ 

Fig-. 5 — Is intended to show the effect of the side- 
stroke and force, on the angle which the cue-ball will 
^make after coming in contact with the cushion, the 
object-ball being previously struck. Strike the cue- 
balll B, ^ L, with Q. P. 3f, so as to strike the object- 
ball dead full. The cue-ball will return to the cushion, 
and fly off at the angle marked ; which angle wdll be 
obtuser, and made on the opposite side to what it would 
have been, had not the cue-ball touched the object- 
ball but continued on to the end cushion opposite. 



Xo. 21. 




155 



DIAGRAM NO. XXI. 

This diagram is introduced to show the advantage 
which may inure to the player, by possessing the 
ability to execute perpendicular strokes. This posi- 
tion of the balls actually occurred in a match played 
in San Francisco, between the author and a celebrated 
French player, where the reputation of both players 
was at stake. The game was the French three-ball 
carom game, in which no pushing shots are permitted. 
The parties were playing 100 points up, the French- 
man having but three points to make, while the writer 
required twenty-one to win the game. Such were the 
conditions of the game when the position of the balls, 
as shown in the diagram, presented itself; and the au- 
thor, playing a perpendicular stroke, effected a carom, 
from which he secured a run of nine, and eventually 
won the game. A represents the striker's ball, that 
of his opponent, and B the red ball. The small dots 
show the relative positions of the balls, after the stroke 
was effected — No. 1 being the striker's ball, 3 the red, 
and 2 the opponent's ball. 



156 



DIAGEAM NO. XXII. 

The diagram is intended to illustrate botli execution 
and judgment. This position of the balls also occurred 
in the match referred to in the description of the pre- 
ceding diagram, and was the game-shot of th.e rubber. 
It would have been a much, simpler method of making 
the stroke for the author to have played upon No. 2, 
than taken the side-cushion and caromed directly npon 
No. 3. But, in case the stroke had been nnsuccessful, 
tke balls would have been left in a favorable position 
for the opponent. It must be recollected that tlie 
French three-ball carom game is as much a game of 
defence as attack ; hence, safety is an essential element, 
to which the player must direct his attention. No. 1 
represents the striker's ball. No. 2 that of his opponent, 
and 3 the red ball ; kence, it will be readily seen that 
the striker, by playing the shot as represented in the 
diagram, would have left the balls in a muck safer po- 
sition had ke proved unsuccessful, than would have 
been tke case had ke failed in making the simpler 
carom. 



No. 22. 




No. 23. 




161 



DIAGEALI NO. XXIII. 

The shot, as represented in the diagram, is to play 
with ball No. 1, effecting a carom on balls 2 and 3, 
and pocketing balls 2 and 3 in the corner where ball 3 
is represented. 

To effect this shot play on ball 2 dead full, with 
strength enough to make it travel over the space 
covered by the line, as laid down in the diagram.. 
Strike the cue-ball about |- A, |- E, with Q. P. 3|- to 4, 
and it will hug the cushion as represented, and carom 
on ball 3 and pocket it. The twist communicated 
to the cue-ball will then act on the side-cushion, and 
cause it to roll out of the way ere ball 2 reaches its 
place of destination. 

This proposition will not be new to any readers of 
the Billiard Cue^ to which paper it was originally con- 
tributed by the writer. It seems simple now, when 
the lines are drawn which illustrate it ; but as the 
proposition first appeared — the position of the balls 
being only indicated, and not the method of effecting 
the shot — many attempts were made, before the stroke 
was finally accomplished by one of our most distin- 
guished amateurs. 



162 



DIAGRAM NO. XXIY. 

This diagram shows a favorite stroke of Mr. C. Bird, 
of Pliiladelpliia, wlio is frequently requested by his 
friends to make it. The object is to take six cush- 
ions, and effect the carom on balls 1 and 2, as repre- 
sented. 

Strike the cue-ball f L, with Q. P. 8|- to 4, the ob- 
ject-ball to be hit fine on the right. 



No. 25. 




167 



DIAGRAM NO. XXY. 

The letters A, B, C, and D, on the diagram opposite, 
show the position of the Spots on the billiard table. 
In placing them^ a line is drawn down the centre of 
the table, from the centre nails or sights in the head 
and lower cushions ; another line is then drawn from 
the centre sights in the side cushions, across the table, 
and where the lines intersect, the spots are placed. 
The spot at A, being next the head of the table, is the 
light red spot, and an imaginary line across the table 
at this point is the string ; the spot at B is the dark 
red spot. 

The spot at C is the English spot, which is to be 
thirteen inches from the end or lower cushion, and is 
used in playing the English game, but in this country 
it is generally put about nine inches from the lower 
cushion. 

The spot at D is for two ball pool, and is placed 
about five inches from the lower cushion. 

E shows the Pin Pool spots, that in the centre being 
number five ; each of the others should be placed 
about 2^ inches from it, in the position represented on 
diagram. 

F shows the position of the balls in playing fifteen 
ball pool. The balls are placed in a triangular frame, 



168 . . 

so as to insure exactness — the base of the triangle being 
parallel with the end, or lower cushion of the table. 
The highest number, fifteen, should be placed on the 
deep red spot, at B. 

Figures 1 and 2 show the positions of the semicircles, 
or playing points, for the English and French games. 

In playing the English game, the semicircle is drawn 
from the light red spot, with a radius of ten inches. 
In England the spot is placed two feet six inches from 
the cushion. 

The semicircle for the French game is drawn with a 
radius of four and a half inches on the French table, 
but on the American full-sized table, it should have p 
radius of five inches. 



CHAPTER V. 

A CODE TO EEGULATE Al^D EEI>UCE TO UNIFORMITY THE DIFFERENT 
GAMES OF BILLIARDS, AS PLAYED IN THE UNITED STATES AND 
ELSET\^HERE. 

To establisli sucli a billiard-code as would meet witli 
the general a,pprobation and consent of billiard-players 
in all parts of tbe Union, would indeed be ^'a consum- 
mation most devoutly to be wished " — a consummation, 
also, more to be prayed for than expected. 

In things the most trivial, as in things the most 
grave, it is difl&cult to make any large majority of men 
view any matter in precisely the same light. Some 
are prejudiced to this side, and others have their early 
convictions inclining them to that. All may deplore 
the disagreement — all may sigh for a uniformity of 
system ; but few are prepared to abandon their peculiar 
ideas, without the sacrifice of which no uniformity can 
be attained. 

In the rules laid down for playing the various games 
of billiards, this evil has been further aggravated by 
the petty jealousies of those engaged in the billiard 
business. Each one establishes a code of regulations 
for himself — a code in which it would appear to be his 
object to differ as much as possible from the codes 

8 

\ 



170 The Gamk of Billiards. 

(5 A Mi: or-;gu:- 
ado})tod by the other brethren of his profession. Cer- 
tain manufacturers of quasi ])illiard tables, not knowing 
anything of the game themselves, and therefore not be- 
ing competent to decide which of these conflicting 
codes is correct, pick out whichever one comes readiest 
to hand, and accompany the sale of everything they 
call a table with a framed and printed copy of this 
*' code." In this way the country is flooded with con- 
flicting rules, which frequently cause disputes that 
might otherwise be avoided. 

'^ Let the cobbler stick to his last," is a maxim of* 
great wisdom and antiquity ; and one would really 
think, according to recent developments, that these 
*' manufacturers" might find employment for some time 
further in attempting to improve the cushions and 
other parts of their table gear, which are notoriously 
defective and condemned. As a general rule, they are 
ignorant of the game, and opposed to any innovation in 
its mechanical appliances, even though the innovation 
contains the most important improvement. Their 
ignorance we account for on the same principle that 
is said to make 'Hhe confectioner less fond of sweet- 
meats than any man in the parish." From the hour 
of their apprenticeship they look upon the table as 
the object of their labor and the means of obtaining 
bread. They never associate the board with any 
sensations of amusement ; and when in search of pleas- 
ure, they will seek it in whatever game can least 
remind them of their toil. That they should be op- 
posed to innovations is extremely natural, therefore 
—seeing that they take no individual interest in the 



The Game of Billiakds. M71,, 

science of the game, and that every alteration requires 
so much more time and trouble, and throws them so 
much out from the mill-horse round in which thej 
have been accustomed to proceed Y^ithowi progressing. 

In drawing up the following rules, the author hopes 
they are such as may meet with general adoption. He 
has practiced what he preaches in the forepart of this 
article, and sacrificed such of his private opinions as he 
found to be at variaDce with the customs most in vogue. 
He has seen differences arise and lead to angry words, 
in cases where both players were correct, according to 
the codes in use in the different sections from which 
each came. They met perhaps on *' neutral ground" 
— in a city where the code was entirely different from 
that professed by either; and who could then deter- 
mine from which side the concession should be made ? 

In the sincere hope of obviating these difficulties 
for the future, the author has compiled this code, with 
a view to its general adoption as the standard law; 
and to prove that he is actuated by a sincere desire for 
uniformity, and not by any vain conceit that his stand- 
ing as a billiard-player is such as to make his ipse dixit 
be received as incontrovertible, he hereby promises to 
be governed by any other code which a convention of 
billiard-players, from the different sections of the 
Union, may be induced to agree upon. 

He flatters himself that he has already done enough 
for the game of billiards, to guarantee that he has the 
development of its scientific principles sincerely at 
heart : his improvements in the tables and cushions, 
more especially, were not made without the sacrifice 



172 ' The Game of Billiards. 

of mucli time and money. The latter lias been amply, 
and more than amply repaid to him by the generous 
appreciation which the billiard-playing public have 
bestowed on the result of his labors: but it would re- 
quire something more than money to compensate either 
himself or his friends for the bitterness of calumny 
with which those who are naturally opposed to all in- 
novations, as afore-mentioned, have since pursued both 
the inventions and inventor. 

It would, indeed, be a much desired result, should 
these rules be universally adopted. 



A CODE TO KEGULATE THE AMEEICAN, OR FOUR 
BALL GAME. 

RULE I. 

ON STRINGING FOR THE LEAD. 

Whoever, playing from within the string against the 
lower cushion, can bring his ball nearest to the cush- 
ion at which he stands, is entitled to the choice of lead 
and balls. Provided, 

1st. That the player's ball, in stringing, has not 
touched any other ball upon the table ; 

2d. Nor fallen into any of the pockets ; in either 
case he loses the choice. 



The Game of Billiards. 178 

EULE II. 

ON LEADING. 

1st. In leading, the player's ball must be played 
with, sufficient strength, to pass below the deep-red 
ball, or he loses his choice. 

2d. It must not be played with so much strength as 
to repass the deep-red ball a second time, after having 
rebounded from the foot of the table. In this latter 
case, it is optional with the adversary to make the 
player spot his ball on the pool spot^ play it over again, 
or take the lead himself. 

EULE III. 

ON THE OPENING OF THE GAME. 

Once the lead is made, the game is considered as 
commenced, and neither player can withdraw except 
under the circumstances hereafter specified. But no 
count or forfeiture can be made until each player has 
played one stroke. 

EULE lY. 

ON FOUL STROKES. 

The penalty for a foul stroke is this: that the 
player cannot count any points he may have made by 



174 The Game of Billiards. 

such stroke, and that his adversary is entitled to the 
next play. The following are among the strokes called 
foul : 

1st. If either player use his opponent's ball to play 
with, the stroke is foul ; and, if successful, he cannot 
count, provided the error is found out before a second 
shot is made. But, 

2d. Should two or more strokes have been made 
previous to the discovery, the reckoning cannot be 
disturbed, and the player may continue his game with 
tJie same ball. And, 

3d. If it be found that the players have changed 
balls during the game, and if the change can be 
brought home to neither in particular, each must keep 
the ball he has, and let the game proceed. 

4th. Should both the white balls be off the table to- 
gether, and should either player, by mistake, pick up 
the wrong one and play with it, the stroke must stand, 
and he can count whatever he has made. [The reason 
of this is obvious ; for both balls being in hand and 
having alike to play from any point within the string, 
no possible advantage could arise from using the other's 
ball. Whereas, when the balls are on the table, the 
case is totally different; for your opponent's ball might 
be advantageously placed, while your own was directly 
the reverse.] 

5th. K the striker aim at a ball before it is fully at 



The Game of Billiards. 175 

rest, or while any other ball is rolling on tlie table, tlie 
stroke is foul and no count can be effected. 

6tli. If, wlien in the act of taking aim, a player 
should touch the ball more than once with his cue, the 
stroke is considered foul. 

7th. If the player, when pushing his own ball for- 
ward with the butt of his cue, does not withdraw the 
butt before the cue-ball touches the object-ball, the 
stroke is foul. 

8th. If, when a red ball is holed, or forced off the 
table, the striker, before playing, does not see that said 
red ball is replaced upon its proper spot — supposing 
such spot to be unoccupied — the stroke he may make, 
while the red is not in its proper place, is foul. But 
should the spot be covered by any other ball, when 
the red is pocketed or forced off, the red must remain 
off the table until its proper position is vacant, and all 
the balls cease rolling. 

9th.' If, when the player's ball is in hand, he does 
not cause it to pass outside the string, before touching 
any of the object-balls or cushion (except in a case 
mentioned in the following rule), the stroke is foul, 
and his opponent may choose whether he will play 
with the balls as they are, have them replaced in their 
original positions, or cause the stroke to be played 
over a second time ; or, should the player make a 
losing hazard under such circumstances, the penalty 
may be enforced. 



176 The Game of Billiards. 

lOth. Playing at a ball whose base, or point of con- 
tact with the table, is outside of the string, is con- 
sidered playing out of the string ; and the stroke is a 
fair one, even though the side which the cue-ball 
strikes is hanging over, and therefore within the string. 

11th. If, after making a successful stroke, the player 
obstructs the free course of the balls upon the table, 
he becomes subject to the penalties of a foul stroke, 
and cannot score his points. 

12th. If the player, with his ball in hand, play at 
an object-ball that is exactly on the string, the stroke 
is foul ; for a ball on the string must be treated as if 
within it. 

13th. If the striker, through stretching forward or 
otherwise, has not at least one foot on the floor while 
striking, the shot is foul, and no points can be reckoned. 

14th. K a player shall alter the stroke he is about 
to make, at the suggestion of any party in the room — 
even if it be at the suggestion of his partner in a 
double match, except where a special agreement is 
made that partners may advise — the altered stroke 
which he plays is foul, and he cannot count any points 
that may be won thereby. 



The Game of Bili^iards. 177 



EULE Y. 

ON FORFEITURES. 

1st. If the player fails to hit snaj of the balls upon 
the table with his own.ball, he forfeits onej which must 
be added to his adversary's count. 

2d. The player forfeits two when his own ball is 
pocketed, after having touched a white one, and this 
totally irrespective of its having touched one or both 
of the reds. 

But there is one case connected with the lead, in 
which a person can lose three even after touching the 
white — to wit : when he first strikes the red, and then 
pockets himself off his opponents ball. In all other 
cases, he can only lose two, when his own ball shall 
have touched his opponent's before going into the 
pocket. The additional penalty of one in this case 
is exacted for having first touched the red. 

8d. He forfeits two to his opponent, also, when he 
causes his ball to jump off the table or lodge on the 
top of the cushion, after having touched his opponent's 
ball. 

4th. When his own ball is pocketed, or jumps off 
the table, or lodges on the cushion, as before descri- 
bed, without either having touched any ball at all, or 
having only touched one or more red ones, the player 
forfeits three. 

8* 



178 The Game of Billiards, 

[In and around New York, three is the highest 
number that a player can be mulcted in for any single 
stroke; but, in some other parts of the Union, they 
add to this forfeiture any number of points which he 
may otherwise have made by the stroke. Surely the 
penalty of three, and to lose his count and hand, ought 
to be enough to satisfy a Shylock.] 

5th. If the player cause any ball to jump off the 
table, and should it, by striking against any of the 
by-standers, be flung back upon the board, it must 
still be looked upon and treated as if it had fallen to 
the floor. If a red ball, it must be spotted ; if a white 
one, held in hand; and if it be the cue-ball, the player 
shall forfeit two or three to his opponent, conforma- 
bly to the terms laid down in the two preceding 
paragraphs. 

6th. Though the striker, when playing with the 
wrong ball, cannot count what points he may make, 
except in those cases mentioned in the second, third 
and fourth paragraphs of Eule IV. ; nevertheless, 
whatever forfeitures he may incur while playing with 
the wrong ball, he is bound to pay, as if he had been 
playing with his own. 

7th. Any player who has commenced a game, as 
specified in Eule II., must either finish or forfeit it, 
except under the circumstances particularly set forth 
in Eule VII. 



The Game of Billiards. 179 

RULE YI. 

ON CASES WHERE THE BALLS ARE IN CONTACT 

According to tlie old rule observed in New York, 
if the cue ball were in actual contact with any other, 
no count could be made by the player under any cir- 
cumstances, though he would be obliged to strike and 
separate the balls at least one inch. This rule was 
manifestly unjust, and its injustice heightened by the 
fact that while the player could not win, he could 
lose as in common cases, should he either pocket his 
own ball, cause it to jump off the table or lodge on 
the cushion. Unjust in itself and different from the 
practice in most other places, it was further aggravated 
by the difficulty recently experienced of finding balls, 
of well-seasoned ivory, — almost all new balls being 
incorrect from shrinkage after a little use, and there- 
fore apt .to fall together from no want of skill on the 
player's part. 

For these considerations therefore, and in obedience 
to the wish repeatedly expressed by players in this 
city and from all parts of the country, we think it 
would be better to make the rule on the subject read 
thus: 

1st. AVhen the cue-ball is in contact with any other, 
the player can make no count unless he first plays 
against some other ball with which his own was not 
in contact. But a count can be made on the ball with 



180 The Game of Billiards. 

wMch. his own was in contact, provided lie shall have 
fii^st played on any other ball on the board. 

2d. This stipulation observed, the play can then 
be pursued entirely as if the balls had not been in 
contact. 



EULE YII. 

ON WITHDRAWING FROM, WITHOUT FINISHING A GAME. 

1st. The player may protest against his adversary's 
standing in front of him, or in such close proximity 
as to disarrange his aim. 

2d. Also, against loud talking, or any other annoy- 
ance by his opponent, while he is making his play. 

3d. Also, against being refused the use of the 
bridge, or any other of the instruments used in that 
room in playing, except where a special stipulation 
to the contrary was made before commencing the 
game. 

4th. Or in case his adversary shall refuse to abide 
by the marker's, or company's decision, on a disputed 
point, which it was agreed between them to submit to 
the marker, or company, for arbitration ; in any one, 
or all of the foregoing cases, if the discourtesy be per- 



The Game of Billiakds. 181 

sisted in, the party aggrieved is at liberty to withdraw, 
and the game shall be considered as drawn, and any 
stakes which may have been depending on such, must 
be returned. 

5th. Should the interruption or annoyance have 
been accidental, the marker, if so requested by the 
player, who is entitled to repeat his stroke, must re- 
place the balls as near as possible in the position they 
occupied before the player made the stroke in which 
he was interrupted. 



KULE YIII. 

ON CASES IN WHICH THE MARKER MUST REPLACE THE BALLS, IP 

CALLED ON, AS NEARLY AS POSSIBLE IN THEIR FORMER 

POSITION. 

1st. In the case mentioned in the 5th paragraph of 
preceding rule. 

2d. Where any of the balls when at rest are moved 
by accident. 

3d. Where any of the balls while rolling, are sud- 
denly obstructed, either by accident or design. In this 
case the marker, if so requested by the players, shall 
place the interrupted ball as nearly as possible in the 
situation which it would apparently have occupied had 
it not been stopped. 

4th. Where the cue-ball, resting on the edge of a 



1S2 The Game of Billiards. 

pocket, drops into it, before the striker lias time to 
play. 

5tli. Where the object-ball, in a similar position, is 
rolled back into the pocket by any of the ordinary 
vibrations of the table or atmosphere. 

6th. In all cases aforementioned, where it is speci- 
fied that in consequence of a foul stroke, the player's 
opponent shall have the option, either of playing at 
balls as they are, or causing them to be replaced by 
the marker. 

7th. When either or both of the red balls are 
pocketed, or forced off the table, it is the marker's 
duty to spot them before another stroke is played — 
except the spot appropriate to either be occupied by 
one of the playing balls, in which case the red one 
must be kept in hand until its position is un- 
corered. 

8th. If, after playing a ball, the player should at- 
tempt to obstruct or accelerate its progress by striking 
it again, blowing at it, or any other means, his oppo- 
nent may either play at the balls as they stand, or call 
upon the marker to replace them in the position they 
would otherwise have occupied. 

9th. K the striker, in the act of taking aim, or other- 
wise, move his ball ever so little, it is a stroke ; and 
should he strike the ball again, his opponent has the 
same option as in the preceding paragraph. 



The Game of Billiards. 183 



EULE IX. 

ON THE DUTY OF PLAYERS TO EACH OTHER. 

1st. Each plaj^er must look after his o^^n interest, 
and exercise his own discretion. His opponent can 
not be called on to answer such questions as *^ Is the 
ball outside or inside the string?" '^ Are the balls in 
contact?" and so forth. These are questions for the 
player's own judgment to decide. 

2d. Each player should attend strictly to his own 
game, and never interfere with his adversary's, except 
when a foul stroke or some other violation of these 
rules may call for forfeiture. 



EULE X. 

ON THE DUTY OF THS MARKER, AND THE SPECTATORS, TO THE 
PLAYERS. 

1st. In a single game, no one, not even the marker, 
has a right to interfere with the play, or point out an 
error w^hich either has been or is about to be commit- 
ted. The player to whose prejudice the foul stroke is 
made, must find that out for himself. 

2d. Even after a stroke has been made, no one in 
the room has any right to comment on it, either for 
praise or blame ; for the same stroke may occur again 
in the course of the game, and the player's play be 



184 The Game of Billiards. 

materially altered by the criticism to whicli he has just 
been listening. 

3d. Let marker and spectators keep their places as 
much as possible, for if they crowd or move around 
the table, they are liable to interfere with the players, 
and certain to distract their attention. 

4th. When the spectators are appealed to by the 
marker, for their opinion on a point which he has been 
asked, but finds himself unable to decide, such of them 
as are well acquainted with the game should answer 
according to the best of their knowledge and belief. 
Those who know little or nothing of the game would 
oblige themselves and others by at once confessing 
their incompetency. Either they may not have seen 
the disputed stroke, or seeing it, they may not have 
been familiar with its merits. 



EULE XI. 

ON THE marker's DUTIES IN PARTICULAR. 

The marker's duties may be thus summed up : 
1st. To proclaim each count in a voice that can be 
heard by the player at his own table. 

2d. To post the total run made by each player 
before the next begins to strike. 



The Game of Billiakds. 185 

3d. To spot tlie balls when necessary. 

4tli. To furmsh. the bridge and other implements of 
he game, when called for. 

5th. To see that the player be not obstructed in his 
stroke by being crowded by the spectators. 

6th. To decide without fear or fayor all questions 
of order and fairness which shall be officially laid be- 
fore him for his opinion. But, 

7th. Let him never volunteer a remark upon any 
portion of the game. 

8th. Let him never touch a ball himself, nor allow 
any other person except the players to touch one, 
except when officially called upon to replace the balls, 
as specified in Eule VII., or when asked to decide as 
to which is the ball that properly belongs to the player. 
In this case, should the spot be turned down on the 
table, he may lift the ball to ascertain the fact — ^but 
never let him touch them voluntarily. 

9th. Finally, when called upon to decide a disputed 
point, of which he has no personal knowledge — ^the 
fairness of a shot which was made when he was look- 
ing elsewhere, for instance — let him proclaim silence, 
and take the opinion of such of the company as avow 
themselves competent to judge. The voice of the ma- 
jority should be allowed to settle all debate; but 
should their decision be flagrantly in conflict with any 



186 The Game of Billiards. 

of tlie well-known and admitted rules liereinbefore laid 
down, the party who fancies himself aggrieved may 
give notice of appeal to lay the question before what 
the lawyers would call ^'a jury of experts" — the 
marker, meanwhile, or some other responsible party, 
holding the bets, if any, which depend on the decision. 
This appeal is final ; and must be made before another 
stroke is played. 



FUETHEE EULES FOE THE FOEEGOING GAME, 

WHEN PLAYED AS A FOUR-HANDED MATCH. 

In a four-handed match — ^two playing in partnership 
against two — the foregoing rules of the single game 
must be substantially observed, with the following 
additions : 

1st, Each winning hazard made by the player puts 
the opponent who preceded him out of play. Conse- 
quently, the partner of the party so put out, steps in 
and takes his place. 

2d. But if the pLiyer makes a losing hazard (pockets 
his own ball), or makes two misses in succession, or 
causes his ball to jump off the table, or lodge on the 
cushion, he loses his hand, and must resign it to his 
partner. 

3d. In this double match the player's partner is af 



The Game of Billiakds. 187 

liberty to warn him against playing with the wrong 
ball, or playing, when his ball is in hand, at an object- 
ball within the string ; but he must not give him any 
advice as to the most advantageous mode of play, &c., 
&c., except it has been otherwise agreed before the 
opening of the game. 



FURTHER RULES FOR THE SAME GAME, WHEN 
PLAYED BY THREE INDEPENDENT PLAYERS. 

Rule XIL 

The rules of the single American game are substan- 
tially binding on the three-handed game, with the fol- 
lowing additions, to meet the increase of players : 

1st. The players commence by stringing for the lead, 
and he who brings his ball nearest to the cushion (as 
in the single game) wins the choice of lead, balls and 
play ; and he who brings his ball next nearest to the 
cushion has the next choice of play. The third player 
cannot enter into the game until the first hazard is 
made, or until one of the players pockets his own ball, 
or makes two misses in succession, or causes his own 
ball to jump off the table or lodge on the cushion. 

2d. All forfeitures in this game count for both of the 
opponents, at the same rate as in the single-handed 
game. 



188 The Game of Billiards. 

3d. If a plaj^er makes two misses in succession, or 
pockets his own ball, or causes his ball to jump from 
the table, his hand is out. 

4th. He who can first make sixty-six points is out ; 
the other two continue until one reaches the hun- 
dred. 

5th. When he who has first made sixty-six retires 
from the game, the player whose hand is out adopts 
his ball, as that ball is entitled to its run, and also to 
the next play. 

6th. If the player should cause both his opponents 
to become sixty-six by a forfeiture, neither of the par- 
ties can claim game thereon, but must win it by their 
next count. But if only one of the opponents be in a 
position to become sixty-six by a forfeiture, then the 
forfeiture reckons as usual, and that opponent wins the 
game when such forfeiture is made. 

So much for the American, or four-ball game. 



FIFTEEN BALL POOL. 

This is an excellent game for the novice — full of 
pleasant excitement, and offering better opportunities 
for hazard practice than almost any other on the 
board. 

As its name imports, there must be fifteen object 
balls employed in playing it — balls made expressly 
for the game, and numbered from 1 to 15. These 



The Game of Billiards. 189 

balls are placed in the form of a triangle upon the 
table — a wooden frame being employed to save 
trouble and insure correctness. The deep red ball^ 
inscribed with the highest number, occupies its usual 
place upon the board, and forms the apex of the tri- 
angle, pointing upwards towards the string. Each 
player is to pocket as many balls as he can, the 
number on each ball pocketed being scored to his 
credit ; so that not he who pockets the largest number 
of balls, but he whose hazards when added up yield 
the largest total, will win the game. Thus, A. might 
pocket all the balls numbered from 1 to 7, and his 
total would be but 28 ; while B., with a better eye to 
the main chance, would walk away from him by pock- 
eting the two balls marked 14 and 15, giving a total 
of 29. 

There is only one cue-ball (the white) used, each 
player playing with it as he finds it on the table, or 
from behind the string, if it be in hand. The follow- 
ing are the rules : 

1st. The order of playing may be settled as for 
two-ball pool. The player plays from behind the 
string, as in the ordinary game, and may miss if he 
likes — but the miss, and all misses at this game, will 
score three against him. The other players follow him 
in their order of rotation. 

2d. The player, if it pleases him, may use either the 
butt of the cue or the mace; and jam his own ball 
against the others, not being obliged to withdraw the 



190 The Game of Billiards. 

mace or cue before the cue-ball comes in contact with 
the object-ball. 

3d. As the sum total of the figures on the 15 balls 
amounts only to 120, of which 61 is more than half, 
whoever makes the latter number first is winner, and 
may claim the stakes. 

4th. Three points are deducted from a player's 
score, for making a miss or a losing hazard, or forcing 
his own ball off the table. 

5th. If the player pockets one or more of the object- 
balls and his own ball at the same time, he cannot 
score for the numbered balls, which must be placed on 
the spot, or in a line behind it, if the spot be occupied, 
and he forfeits three for his losing hazard. 

'A 

6th. A hazard is good in this game, even when the 
cue and object-balls are in contact. 

7th. As in the ordinary game, the player, when the 
cue-ball is in hand, may play from any place within 
the string at any object-ball outside it. 

8th. And should none of the object-balls be outside, 
he may spot that which is nearest out of the string on 
the deep red spot, and play accordingly. 

9th. Should there be a tie between two or more of 
the highest players, its decision may be referred to the 



The Game of Billiards. 191 

succeeding game ; and whoever counts highest in that, 
shall be declared the victor of the former one, totally 
independent of the game that is then on hand. A man 
might thus win an undecided game of fifteen-ball pool 
by scoring one in the succeeding game, provided 
neither of his adversaries scored anything at all. 

10th. Should they again be tied in the second 
game, it may be referred to a third. 

11th. This game is sometimes played for small 
stakes, but more frequently the only issue to be de- 
cided is — who shall pay for the use of the table ? This 
charge must be met by the player who has the lowest 
count, and it is quite possible in this game for a play- 
er's count (owing to forfeitures of various kinds) to be 
half a dozen or a dozen worse than nothing. Thus, if 
A. had neither won nor forfeited anything, while B. 
had pocketed balls 5 and 3, but had also made three 
forfeitures — B. would have to pay, as his forfeitures 
amounting to 9 and his assets only to 8, would leave 
him worse off by one than A., who stood at simple 
zero, while B. was zero minus one. 



EULES FOR THE DOUBLET, OR FRENCH GAME. 

This game is played with one red ball and two 
white — one for each of the players. 

The red ball is spotted on the deep red spot, and 
the white balls must be played from within what is 
called the string. This string differs from ours, inas- 



192 The Game of Billiards. 

much as it is not a line drawn across the table from 
any place behind which a player may play. The 
string is a semi-circle drawn with a radius of four and 
a half inches, having the spot on the ordinary string 
line for its centre, and the string line itself for its base. 
From within this semi- circle the balls must be played 
on the opening of the game, or when they are in hand ; 
and while so playing, the striker is confined to the end 
cushion at which he stands, not being allowed to pass 
outside or in advance of either corner pocket. 

To make a count the player must make the object- 
ball strike a cushion, and cross the board before falling 
into the pocket — this is called a doublet or cross ; or 
force one ball to kiss the other into the pocket; or 
make a carom, or receive the count as a forfeiture from 
his opponent. 

The game commences by stringing for the lead as in 
the ordinary American game, and he who brings his 
ball back nearest to the head cushion at which he 
stands, is the winner, and can play first or make his 
adversary do so, at discretion. For making a miss he 
forfeits one. For pocketing his own ball after it has 
hit the white, — or for causing his own ball to jump off 
the table or lodge on the cushion after it has hit the 
white, he forfeits two^ and this irrespective of whether 
it may, or may not have touched a red ball. 

If he pockets his own ball after it has touched the 
red ball only, or causes it to jump off the table, or 
lodge on the cushion after it has touched the red only, 
or pockets it without having touched any ball at all, 
he forfeits three. 



The Game of Billiakds. 193 

If he Holes the red ball direct, without crossing or 
kissing]^ in, he forfeits three; and for pocketing the 
white in the same way, loses two. 

For pocketing the red ball, either by a cross or kiss, 
he gains three. 

For holing his opponent's ball in the same way, he 
gains two. 

For an ordinary carom he gains two. 

For a carom off the red on the white, and pocketing 
the white, he gdin^four. 

For a carom off the white on the red, the red being 
pocketed, he g^msfive. [It, of course, must be under- 
stood in all these cases, that the ball pocketed has been 
previously crossed, kissed, or caromed in ; for if it 
was holed directly, without the doublet, kiss, or carom, 
he would lose in an inverse ratio to the gains here 
set down. Thus, if he caromed on the white and red, 
and pocketed the red directly^ he would lose five. For 
pocketing both under similar circumstances, seven; and 
should he pocket his own ball along with the two 
others, he would lose nine, under any circum- 
stances.] 

No pushing, or what we call '^ foul shots," are allow- 
ed in this game. The player must withdraw his cue 
or mace from his own ball, before it comes in contact 
with the object-ball, otherwise he forfeits the stroke, 
and can count no points he may have made by it. 

9 



194 The Gtame of Billiards. 



RULES FOR THE THREE-BALL, OR FRENCH CAROM 

GAME. 

This game is generally played on a table without 
pockets, made especially for the carom game; it is 
here more frequently, however, played upon the com- 
mon table. 

The players string for the lead as in the preceding 
game, but the winner is entitled to have his opponent's 
ball spotted Avithin the semicircular string. 

Hazards do not count in this game. No pushing 
strokes are allowed. 

Each carom, fairly made, counts one for the player. 

When the game is played on a common table, each 
time the red is pocketed, it must be replaced on the 
deep red spot: and each time the player holes his ad- 
versary's ball, at the same time making a carom, the 
ball pocketed must be spotted on the spot within the 
semicircular string. 

Should the player pocket his own ball after mak- 
ing a carom, he is entitled to his count, and the 
next play, as if no such accident had occurred ; the 
only penalty is, that he must play from within the 
semicircle, at a ball outside the string. But should 
none of the balls be outside, in this case he may call 
upon the marker to spot the red on the deep red spot, 
and play at it. 

Each time a ball is forced off the table, it must be 
spotted, or played as above ; but should both spots be 
occupied, the ball must be placed on the centre of the 



The Game of Billiards. 195 

ta.ble. K no carom was made by it before jumping 
off, it must be spotted ; if a carom was made by it, it 
must be played from within the semi-circle, as is laid 
down in the preceding paragraph. 

The following additional rules for this game were 
adopted in a match which the writer recently played. 
Their substance was as follows, but the wording has 
been slightly varied for the sake of greater clearness 
to the general reader. 

1st. The parties shall string fol' lead, the winner 
being entitled to have his opponent's ball spotted, on 
the spot within the semi-circles, or to spot his own 
ball as he may choose. 

2d. Whenever at the commencement, or in conse- 
quence of having being pocketed or jumped off, the 
player's ball shall have been spotted within the semi- 
circle, it shall be considered as if in hand (having 
been only put there to give the adversary a chance of 
caroming,) and may be played from any point within 
the semi-circle. 

3d. When the player's ball is in hand, he must 
keep his body in playing, within line of the two end 
pockets at the head of the table. 

4th. If, when the playing ball is in hand, the two 
other balls should be within the string, the player can 
have the red ball spotted on the deep red spot. 

5th. Should the player's ball be held, not having 



196 The Game of Billiards. 

counted, and the other white ball be on its spot, not 
having rolled there, it must be taken off, and the 
white ball held, be placed on the spot. 

6th. K the upper spot be occupied either by the red 
ball, or by a white ball having rolled there, and the 
other be held, it must go on the centre spot. 

7th. The red ball having been held and its spot 
being occupied it must go the centre spot — should two 
of the spots be occupied, it mast go on the third. 

8th. All shots shall be fair, no pushing being al- 
lowed. 

9th. If the player touches in any manner, any of 
the balls, it shall be considered a shot, and any second 
touch shall be considered foul. Should the player 
touch his or any other ball before making his stroke, 
his opponent may have the balls replaced — but should 
the player touch a ball after his stroke has been made, 
his adversary may have only the ball so touched, 
placed where it ought to have rested had it not been 
touched. 

10th. If the player's ball touch another he cannot 
count, but he may play his ball. Should he touch the 
other ball with his, the balls must be spotted, and his 
opponent play in hand. 

11th. Each carom fairly made shall count one. No 
penalty shall attach to a miss, nor to the pocketing of 
the player's ball. 



The Game of Billiards. 197 

12 til. No mace shall be permitted in the game, but 
each player shall have the privilege of using the 
bridge. 

In this game the writer made some interesting shots, 
a few of which are illustrated in the following dia- 
grams. 



198 



DIAGEAM NO. XXYI. 

DIRECTIONS FOR PLAYING NO. 26. 

Strike the cue-ball i above the centre, i left ; the 
object-ball to be hit i right. Play hard enough to 
make the object-ball return, as far back from the lower 
cushion as its original position. 

There are several modes of effecting a carom on the 
balls as represented in diagram No. 26, for instance, by 
forcing back direct on the ball, or with a strong twist 
the reverse of the one indicated on diagram, causing 
the cue-ball to take the upper cushion, or by playing 
on the left of the object-bal], and taking two cushions 
— ^but in this, above all other games played on the 
billiard table, the greatest foresight and calculation 
are necessary, as it is not only a game of attack, but 
also of defence. By playing in. the manner represented 
on diagram, if a count was not made, the balls would 
be '^ safe," as the cue-ball would have gone below the 
opponent's ball, and the object -ball would have rolled 
back again above it, thus leaving the opponent's ball 
between the two, which is the strong defensive part of 
the game. 



No. 26. 




No. 27. 




203 



DIAGRAM NO. XXYIL 

HOW TO PLAY NO. 27. 



Strike tlie cue-ball | above, I left, play bard — ^tbe 
object-ball to be bit ^ right, as indicated in diagram. 

This shot was made by Mr. Phelan in the fifth 
game. 



204 



DIAGKAM NO. XXYITI. 

HOW TO PLAY NO. 28. 

Strike .the cue-ball | left of centre, play hard — tlie 
object-ball to be hit | right, as indicated in diagram. 

This is rather a risky shot to play, as if it missed, 
the chances were that a fair prospect of a count would 
have been left to the opponent — ^but as a general rule 
it is best to play for such shots, especially if the player 
be ahead, as was the case in this instance. 



No. 28. 




The G-ame of Billiabds. 207 



KULES FOR THE RUSSIAN GAME. 

This is a very agreeable variety of the game, and 
ought to be more popular in this country than it is. 

Five balls are required to play it ; two white ones 
for the players, and a red, a blue, and a yellow ball for 
the board. The blue must be placed on the light red 
spot, the yellow on the spot between the pockets, and 
the red on the deep red spot. 

In this country it is most usually played one hun- 
dred points up ; although in Germany and Eussia the 
game is forty. 

The peculiarity of the Eussian game is, that certain 
balls are confined to certain pockets, and that a differ- 
ent count is attached to each color, both in the hazards 
and the caroms made oflf it, and the forfeitures lost 
from it. The following are the rules : 

1st. The player may pocket his opponent's ball in 
any pocket, and will count two, 

2d. The same rule applies to the red, and counts 
three, 

3d. The same also to the blue, and counts /owr. 

4th. But the yellow, or Caroline ball, as it is termed, 
when holed in either of the side pockets, counts six for 



208 The Game of Billiards. 

the player, — ^but if pocketed in any of the corner 
pockets, the player forfeits six. 

5th. K the striker pocket his own ball without hitting 
any of the balls upon the table, he forfeits three — after 
hitting the white, two ; after hitting the red, three ; 
after hitting the blue, four; and after touching the 
yellow or Caroline, six. 

6th. Thus, again, in caroms : A carom on the white 
and red scores two ; on the red and blue, or blue and 
red, three ; a carom off or on the white and yellow, 
three ; and a carom on or off a yellow with a red or 
blue, counts four. 

7th. The same penalties attach to the player who 
has caused his ball to jump off or lodge on the cushion 
as if he had pocketed his own ball. 

8th. The striker, when leading off, or having his ball 
in hand, may play from any point within the string, 
at any ball outside of it. 

9th. In addition to the penalties specified in Eule 5, 
for a losing hazard, the player also loses whatever 
points he may have otherwise made by the stroke. 

10th. After the striker has pocketed any of the ob- 
ject-balls, he can play next at any ball on the table. 

11th. But after a carom stroke, where no ball has 
been holed, he must play next on the yellow, no matter 
what be its position. 



The Game of Billiards. 209 

12th. To continue play there must be a hazard after 
every carom ; otherwise the second carom counts for 
the player, but he loses his hand. 

13th. Carom points will not count to win the game. 
The winning stroke must be a hazard. 

14th. For eyery ball he touches in giving the lead, 
the player loses one point ; and should his ball occupy 
the spot of any of the three balls he may have displaced, 
he must take it up and lead over again. He cannot 
score any points made on the leading stroke 



KULES FOR THE SPANISH GAME. 

This game is seldom seen in the Northern States, 
but is very common in some parts of the South, as also 
in Mexico and California. 

It introduces a new element into the game of billiards, 
in the shape of five wooden pins ; diminutive little 
things, which are set up in a diamond pattern between 
the two side pockets, each pin being about two and a 
half inches from the other, as in pin pool. 

Nine pins are sometimes use^ instead of five, but 
the manner of playing remains the same. 

The game is generally played thirty-one up, and is 
scored by hazards, caroms and knocking down the 
pins. The rules are extremely simple : 

1st For every pin the player knocks down after first 
striking a ball with his own ball, he gains two points. 



210 The Game of Billiards, 

2d. If he knock down the middle pin alone, he gains 
five. 

8d. For pocketing his opponent's ball the player 
gains two, and two for each pin he may have knocked 
down by the same stroke. 

4th. If he pocket the red ball he gets three, and two 
for each pin, &c. 

5th. If the player pocket his own ball, cause it to 
jump over the side, or lodge on the cushion, without 
having touched any of the other balls, he loses three. 

6th. But if he does any of the aforementioned things 
after having touched any of the balls, he loses in 
addition to the three, whatever points he would other- 
wise have made by his play, at the regular rate of 
counting. 

In other respects — as regards foul strokes, and so 
forth — the rules of the ordinary American game may 
all be applied to the Spanish, with such additions as 
are hereinbefore set down. 



EULES FOR THE ENGLISH GAME. 

This game is the only one much played in this coun- 
try, in which the player pocketing his own ball — ^or 
making a losing hazard, as it is termed — ^is allowed 
to count for it. For this reason it is sometimes called 
the ''Winning and losing Carambole game," to sig- 



The GtAme of Billiards. 211 

nify the three kinds of strokes for which the player is 
permitted to score. 

In stringing for the lead, the same semicircular 
baulk is used at the string line, which we have already 
described, in giving the rules of the French doublet 
game. In England the red ball is spotted thirteen inches 
from the lower cushion ; but is here generally placed at 
nine. The string is a semicircle at the head of the table, 
drawn with a radius of ten inches, from which the cue- 
ball is always played when in hand. Otherwise, the 
game is commenced as with us. The following are the 
distinctive rules of the English game — in other respects, 
where it is not specified to the contrary, the rules of 
the American four-ball game are binding : 

1st. Where odds are given in the game, the player 
receiving them must break the balls either by striking 
the red, or giving a miss, for which he forfeits one. 

2d. If he chooses to miss, the stroke must be play- 
ed with the point, not the butt, of his cue. 

3d. The game, as played in England at present, is 
commonly fifty up ; but in this country sixty-three is 
the more usual rule. 

4:th. If a player forces the object-ball off the table, 
he cannot score any counts he may have otherwise 
made by the shot, 

5th. Forcing your own ball off the table after it 
has struck another, involves no.forfeiture. 



212 The Game of Billiards. 

6th. But if your own ball jumps off without having 
touched either of the object-balls, it is called a ^^coup/^ 
and you lose three points. 

7th. In the score of the game, a hazard made 
either with your opponent's ball, or by pocketing your 
own, counts two. 

8th. Either to pocket the red or to pocket your own 
off the red, counts three, 

9th. For pocketing your own and adversary's ball, 
four. 

10th. For a carom and hazard, made with either of 
the whites, four. 

11th. For holeing a red ball and either of the 
whites, five. 

12th. For a carom and a hazard, either made with 
or off the red ball, five. 

13th. For pocketing your own and the red ball, six. 

14th. For making a carom where the white ball is 
first struck, and for pocketing your own and oppo- 
nent's balls, six. 

15th. For pocketing the two whites, and making a 
carom off the red, seven. 

16th. For pocketing all the balls, where the white 
is first struck, seven. 

17th. For doing the same, where the red is first 
struck, eight. 



The GrAME of Billiabds. 213 

IStla. For pocketing your own, the red, and mak- 
ing a carom, eight 

19th. For pocketing all the balls and caroming 
where the white is first struck, nine, 

20th. For the same where the red is first struck, ten^ 
which is the highest that can be made by any single 
shot" in this game. 

21st. The player may continue to play so long as 
he makes a count each stroke, except when his hand 
is forfeited for a foul shot. 

22d. It is entirely at the option of the opponent 
whether he will enforce the penalty for a foul stroke, 
or play with the balls as they are left. But if he 
neglects or is disinclined to claim the forfeiture, the 
player may count all the points made by the foul stroke, 
and continue his game as if no error had occurred. 

23d. When the white ball stands on the deep red 
spot, while the red ball has been either pocketed or 
forced off the table, the red must be placed on the 
string-line spot. Should this also be occupied, the red 
must then be placed on the spot between the side- 
pockets. 

24th. For a miss, the player loses one to his adver- 
sary. For a miss when he pockets his own ball as 
well, or causes it to jump off or lodge on the cushion, 
three. 



214 The Game of Billiards. 

25th. Where a carom or hazard is made by a 
striker playing with the wrong ball, the player cannot 
count, and his opponent may have the balls broken ; 
but if nothing be made, then the opponent may play 
with whichever ball he likes, but must continue to 
play therewith to the end of the game. 

[Note. — To have ^'the balls broken," is a technical 
phrase, which means to have them replaced as they 
stood at the opening of the game.] 

26th. When the two object-balls are within the 
string and the player's ball in hand, he cannot play at 
them except from a cushion outside of baulk. 

27th. A player whose ball is in hand cannot play at 
a cushion within the string in order to strike a ball that 
is outside of it. Under such circumstances, he must 
send his ball outside of baulk before it touches any- 
thing, or can be acknowledged as in play. 

28th. If a player chooses to give a miss within the 
baulk line, it is at the option of his adversary to com- 
pel him to play outside. 

29th. If a player, after making a hazard or carom, 
takes up his own ball or any other ball, under the idea 
that the game is over, his opponent can either demand 
that the balls shall be broken, or have them replaced 
exactly where they were. 

30th. If, after a miss or coup, the player take up^any 
of the balls, under the idea that the game is over, he 
loses the game. 



The GtAMe of Billiards. 215 

81st. When a player has made a foul stroke, it is 
always at the option of his opponent to have the balls 
broken, or replaced by the marker. 

In cases not specifically provided for by any of the 
foregoing rules, let it be understood that the rules of 
the ordinary American game are binding. 



EULES FOE THE GAME OF TWO-BALL POOL. 

This game is not much, in use at present, thougb 
about a dozen years ago it was universally in vogue. 
It is opened in the following way, and any number of 
players from 2 to 20 may be engaged in it at once. 

A number of little balls (as many balls as there are 
players) are dropped into a pocket, from which, after 
having been shaken, they are drawn at random by the 
marker and presented to the different players. These 
little balls are numbered one, two, three, &c., up to the 
number of players ; and the number engraved on the 
ball which the marker hands to the player decides his 
position in the game, and the order of rotation. 

This game, as its name implies, is generally played 
for a small pool, into which each player contributes the 
price of his ball. At present these stakes are generally 
limited to an amount which, in the aggregate, will 
suffice to pay for the use of the tables ; but the disuse 
into which the game has generally fallen arises, in all 
probability, from the dislike which the modern school 
of billiard-players feel, to the principle of a bet, how- 
ever small. 



216 The Game of Billiards. 

Wlien a professional player plays against a profes- 
sional player, a bet is sometimes made, as a matter of 
necessity, to pay each, player for his time ; but such 
bets are of a purely business character, and can in no- 
wise be associated with gambling. It is a very rare 
thing indeed in these days, and growing rarer every 
day, to see an amateur stake money on his skill; the 
only money question depending on the game in ninety- 
nine cases out of every hundred, is — Who shall pay for 
the table? Sometimes they add to this a couple of 
cigars, or refreshments; but the practice of betting 
money is growing obsolete, and hence the decline of 
the billiard sharps, who have had to seek "green 
fields and pastures new" for the exercise of their dis- 
reputable ingenuity. 

There are only two balls used in this game — a red 
and a white ; consequently there can be no caroms. 
The players are called Numbers One, Two, Three, &c., 
according to the figures on the balls drawn from the 
pocket, and the player must always make his cue-ball 
of the ball which was object-ball in the preceding stroke, 
except when a ball has been pocketed. In this case there 
must be a new lead — ^the next player leading with the 
red ball, and being followed with the white ball from 
the string. Subjoined we give the specific rules for 
two-ball pool : 

1st. Player Number One must lead with the red, but 
has the privilege of spotting his ball, in case the lead 
does not please him. But if, in a pushing lead, he 
does not withdraw his mace or cue from the ball before 



The Game of Billiards 217 

it passes the middle pockets, the stroke is foul, and 
player Number Two has the option of playing at the 
ball as it is left, having the lead played over again, or 
causing the red to be spotted on the pool spot. 

2d. Each player has one, two or more lives, as may 
be agreed on. When he forfeits these he is said to be 
dead, except when he obtains what is called a ^^privi- 
lege," meaning one chance more. 

3d. This privilege, except where ail the players con- 
sent to its remaining open, must be taken by the first 
man ^^ killed ;" and the person so killed must determine 
whether he will accept it or not at once, before another 
stroke is played. [This is the strict rule of the game, 
and as such may be enforced; but as a general practice, 
the privilege remains open until taken up by some one 
of the players.] 

4th. After a game has been commenced, no one can 
take a ball, except with the consent of all who are 
already in the game ; and after the privilege is gone, 
no stranger can be admitted to the game under any 
circumstances. 

5th. Any person in the pool whose lives are not 
exhausted, and who thinks a hazard may be made in 
a certain position, can claim the stroke, or ^Hake the 
hazard," as it is technically called, in case the striker 
does not choose to risk that particular stroke himself 
Should the person who takes the hazard fail to execute 
it, he loses a life. 

10 



218 The Game of Billiards. 

6tli. The player has the best right to take a hazard, 
and must be marked if he fails to pocket the ball, in 
case any other player in the pool has offered to take it. 

7th. In playing out of his turn, the player loses a 
life, unless he pockets the object-ball, in which case 
the ball pocketed loses a life, and the next in rotation 
to the person who ought to have played, plays. 

8th. But if one player misdirect another by calling 
on him to play, when it is not his turn, the misdirector, 
and not the misdirected, loses a life, and the next in 
turn must lead with the red as usual. 

9th. Whoever touches any of the balls while run- 
ning, forfeits a life. This rule is invariable, and can 
only be relaxed by the consent of all the players. 

10th. No player can own or have an interest in 
more than one ball at a time ; nor can he buy another 
ball, nor own an interest in another ball, while his 
own ball is either alive or privileged. 

11th. After the number which he drew is dead, he 
may buy that of another player, and take his place ; 
but if the seller only dispose of an interest in his ball, 
he must either continue to play it himself or sell out 
his ball in toto^ in which latter case any member of the 
original pool may buy and jfinish out the game. 

12th. But no person not included in the original 
pool can be permitted to buy in and play ; though out- 



The Game of Billiakds. 219 

siders may purchase an interest in a ball^ still permit- 
ting the original member of the pool to play it. 

13th. If the leader sells his number upon the lead, 
the purchaser must either allow the lead made to stand, 
or the ball may be spotted at his option. 

14th. A lead once made cannot be changed, even 
when the next player sells his ball to a third party ; 
but the leader has, at all times, the option of having 
his baU spotted. 

15th. No player can strike twice in succession, under 
any circumstances, except when there are only two 
players left, and one of them has holed his opponent's 
bal]^ In that case, the person who has pocketed the 
ball must lead for his adversary to play on. 

16th. When only two players are left, and either of 
them wishes to divide or sell, his opponent shall have 
the first right of buying, provided that he offers as 
much as is offered by any of the others who are en- 
titled (by having been in the original pool) to purchase. 
But should he not offer as much, then the ball may be 
sold to the highest duly-qualified bidder. 

17th. If a player, playing on the lead, places his ball 
outside of the string, and has his attention called to 
the fact by the leader before the time of striking his 
ball, it is optional with the leader either to compel him 
to play the stroke over again or let the balls remain as 
they are. 



220 The Game oy Billiards. 

18tb. If it be found that the marker has not thrown 
out balls enough for the number of players at the com- 
mencement of the game, his mistake will not alter the 
conditions of any bets which may have been made 
amongst those to whom balls were actually distributed ; 
these stand irrespective of his error. The balls must be 
again shaken up, and thrown over, and then the game 
commences. 

With the foregoing exceptions, the rules of the ordi- 
nary American game as to striking with both feet off 
the floor, interrupting your adversary when in the act 
of striking, &c., &c., may be applied to two-ball pool. 



EULES FOR THE GAME OF PIN POOL 

AS PLAYED IN NEW YORK. 

This game is a very amusing one, and seems to have ^ 
been made up out of the odds and ends of half a dozen 
others : it has pins in it like the Spanish game, small 
numbered balls, like two-ball pool, and reminds us of 
Vingt-un at cards, by the player's liability to ^' burst" 
if he exceeds a certain number. Pin pool might in- 
deed be called Trente-un, as thirty-one is the winning 
number. The following rules are for the game, as 
played in New York and its vicinity, and may be 
adapted in the important matter of counts, forfeitures, 
&c., to the game as played in all other parts of the 
Union. In Philadelphia, and other places, four balls 
are used in playing it. We shall therefore lay down 
rules for the regular game as played here ; for to enter 



The Game of Billiakds. * 221 

iuto all the varieties would be an endless task ; and 
when once the general rules are understood, the different 
variations may be readily brought within its operation. 
The game of pin pool, then, is played with two white 
balls and one red, together with five small wooden 
pins, which are set up in the middle of the table, 
diamond-fashion, as in the Spanish game. But in the 
latter game, each pin had the value of two points ; 
while in this, each pin has a value to accord with the 
position it occupies. 

4^ 
3* &^ 2* 

The pin nearest the string line is called No. 1 ; the 
pin to the right of it. No. 2 ; to the left, No. 3 ; the 
pin farthest from the string line. No. 4 ; and the cen- 
tral pin is No. 5 ; these numbers are generally chalked 
on the table in front of each particular pin. 

Neither caroms nor hazards count; for pocketing 
your own ball, or causing it to jump oJEf the table, or 
lodge on the cushion, or for missing altogether, you 
lose nothing. The only penalty is, that the ball so 
offending shall be spotted about five inches from the 
lower cushion, midway between the corner pockets. 

When the pins are arranged, the rotation of the play- 
ers is determined in like manner as in two-ball pool. 
After which, each player receives from the marker a little 
number-ball, which is termed his private ball, the num- 
ber of which is not known to any of his opponents. 



222 The Game of Billiakds. 

The object of the players is to knock down as many 
pins as will count thirty-one, when the number on the 
private ball is added to their aggregate: thus, if a 
player's private ball be No. 9, he will have to gain 
twenty -two points on the pins before calling ^^Trentc-un," 
and whoever first gets thirty-one points in this manner, 
wins the pool. 

When the rotation of the plaj^ers is decided, the red 
ball is spotted about five inches from the 'bottom of 
the table, and midway between the pockets, on a line 
drawn down the centre. The game is then commenced. 

Eule 1st. Player No. 1 must play with either of 
the white balls at the red, or place his own ball on the 
deep-red spot. 

2d. Player No. 2 must play at either ball, or spot 
his own ball on the light-red spot. 

3d. Players No. 1 and No. 2 may play from any 
part within the string. No. 2 can play on any ball 
outside the string, and should none be so situated, he 
may have the red ball placed on its appropriate spot 

4th. After the second stroke has been played, the 
players in their order may play with or at any ball 
upon the board. 

5th. Unless the player has touched some ball upon 
the board before knocking down a pin, the stroke, under 
all circumstances, goes for nothing, and the pin or pins 
must be replaced. But should two balls be in con- 
act, the player can play with either of the balls so 



The Game of Billiards. 228 

toncliing, direct at the pins, and any count so made is 
good. 

6t]i. If a player, with one stroke, knocks down the 
four outside pins and leaves the central one untouched, 
under any and all circumstances he wins the game. 

7th. But if the player has knocked down pins, whose 
aggregate number, when added to the number on his 
private ball, exceeds a total of thirty one, he is then 
^' burst," and must then drop out of the game, unless 
he claims the "privilege." K he wishes to claim this, 
he must do so before another stroke is made, as other* 
wise he can only reenter the game by the consent of 
all the players. 

8th. Players having bursted, can claim "privilege" 
as often as they burst ; and when privilege is granted, 
the player draws a new private ball from the marker, 
and has then the option either of keeping that which 
he originally drew, or adopting the new one then drawn : 
but one or other he must return, or else he cannot, 
under any circumstances, be entitled to the pool. 

9th. Every privilege taken succeeds the last number 
of the players in the order of its play. Thus, if there 
are ten players, and No. 2 bursts, he appears again 
under privilege, as No. 11, and follows No. 10 ; and 
all the players that are burst after him, will have to 
follow No. 11, in the order of their reentry into play. 
So that if it be the highest number in the pool that 
bursts, he will follow on immediately after choosing his 
private ball. 



224 The Game of Billiards. 

lOtli. If a player make a miss, or pocket his own 
ball, or cause it to jump oS the table or lodge on the 
cushion ; or if, after j umping off it should be thrown back 
upon the table by any of the bystanders — under any of 
these circumstances, the ball must be placed on the spot 
five inches from the bottom cushion on the central 
line — or should that be occupied, then on the deep-red 
spot — or should that also be occupied, then upon the 
light-red spot. 

11th. Should the spot appropriated to any of the pins 
which have been knocked 4own, be occupied by any 
of the balls, said pin musl remain off until said spot 
is again uncovered. 

12th. K a player has made thirty-one, he must pro- 
claim it before the next stroke is made — ^for which pur- 
pose a reasonable delay must be made between each 
play, more especially in the latter portion of the game. 
But if a player has made thirty-one, and fails to an- 
nounce it before next play (a reasonable time having 
passed), then he cannot proclaim the fact until the 
rotation of play again comes round to him. In the 
meanwhile, if any other player makes the number and 
proclaims it properly, he is entitled to the pool, wholly 
irrespective of the fact that the number was made, 
though not proclaimed before. 

13th. Merely touching a pin or shaking it, goes for 
nothing, and the pin must be replaced on its spot. To 
count a pin, it must be either knocked down or remov- 
ed two full inches from the spot on which it stood, in 



The Game of BilliaiIds. 225 

which case it shall be counted, eyen though it main- 
tains the perpendicular. 

14th. A player cannot use any count he may have 
made by playing out of his turn : but if he has made 
pins enough to burst him by such stroke, the loss is 
established, unless in cases where he was called on to 
play by some other of the players, who either believed 
or pretended it was his turn. In such case he cannot 
be burst by his stroke, and he whose turn it was to 
play, plays next in order. 

15th. Pins which have been knocked down by a 
ball whose course has in anywise been illegitimately 
interfered with, do not count ; nor can pins knocked 
down by any other ball set in motion by the same 
play, be reckoned. 

16th. If a ball jump off the table and be thrown 
back by any of the bystanders in such a way as to 
knock down pins, such pins do not count, and the ball 
naust be spotted as aforementioned, and the pins re- 
placed. But if any other ball set in motion by the 
same stroke gets pins, the pins so made by the other 
ball must be reckoned. 

17th. If the marker finds that there are any of the 
private balls missing, it is then h.is duty to announce 
the number of the missing ball ; as in no case can a 
player having that ball, or more than one private ball 
in his possession, win the pool. His other duties con- 
sist of keeping and calling the game at each stroke, 

10* 



226 The Game of Billiards. 

and seeing that the pins and balls be spotted when 
and as required. 

18th. A player taking a privilege is entitled to a 
strike, to secure his stake to the pool. 

RULES OBSERVED IN PLAYING PIN POOL, 

AT Michael's billiard rooms, san francisco. 

IiT San Francisco, from the mixed character of its 
population, a new set of rules became absolutely ne- 
cessary, to reduce into something like settled order the 
innovations which players from different nations made 
in the established usages of the game. The following 
rules were drawn up by the author, while residing in 
San Francisco, and are still the regular law of the game 
as it is there played : 

1st. Two balls must be placed upon the spots at the 
foot of the table. 

2d. The person drawing the No. 1 ball must play from 
the string at the head of the table. 

8d. When a player makes a miss, or hits a pin before 
hitting a ball, the ball played with shall be spotted at 
the foot of the table. In case of there being a ball 
upon the spot at the foot of the table, the ball shall be 
spotted upon the spot nearest the same. 

4th. Should a player make more than thirty-one^ he 
shall declare himself burstedj before another stroke be 
made, for the safety of the rest of the players. 



The Game of Billiards. 227 

5th. If a player make a stroke and make pins, and 
wish to plant, he must, on so making pins, declare that 
he plants, before another stroke is made. 

6th. If any other player should wish to plant, he can 
do so, on making pins. 

7th. And if those who plant have the same number, 
counting their ball and the board, the player planting 
first shall still be good, and the last planter shall be 
bursted; but if the last planter is nearer thirty-one 
than the first, the first planter shall be bursted. 

8th. K a player in the game should burst, he can pur- 
chase any ball still in the game, by consent of the 
player owning such ball. 

9th. No player can play the planter's ball but himself. 

10th. When a player is absent, and his number is 
called three times, the gamekeeper shall play the ball, 
at the risk of the player owning such ball. 

11th. Any number scored wrong upon the board, 
shall be corrected before the player, whose score is 
wrong, shall have played. If he neglect to correct 
such mistake before he plays, it shall stand as scored 
upon the board. 

12th. No player can purchase a ball until his own be 
dead. 

13th. No player can purchase a ball after having seen 
more than one, without the consent of the rest of the 
players. 



228 The Game of Billiaeds. 

14tli. If a player, at one stroke, should knock down 
tlie four outside pins, and leave the centre pin standing, 
it shall be counted as thirty-one, and the player mak- 
ing the stroke, wins the pool. 

15th. If the planter should make the four outside pins, 
as in Eule 14, or should make thirty-one for the player 
planted upon, it is pool for the player planted upon. 

16th. The planter plants upon the preceding player. 

17th. The player preceding the planter, shall be en- 
titled to a stroke before the planter's play counts on 
him. 

18th. After a stroke is made, sufficient time must be 
allowed the player to add up his game, and to proclaim 
pool, if he makes it, or to plant, if he wishes to, before , 
the next play. If he neglect to claim the pool before 
the next play, he must wait until his turn to play comes 
again, when he may declare pool, but if another makes 
pool in the meantime, that other is entitled to it, and 
not he who first made it. 

19th. Should a ball stop on any of the spots intended 
for the pins, such pins are to remain off the table until 
those spots so occupied become vacant. Provided, 
such pin or pins be down. 

20th. Should a ball roll against a pin, and cause it to 
lean over, or move it off the spot, without knocking it 
down, the player cannot claim such pin, as nothing 
counts but knocking the pins down. But when the 



The Game of Billiards. 229 

pins are moved two inches from the spots, they are con- 
sidered down, whether down or standing. 

21st. Should a player play out of his turn, he cannot 
count the pins made by such stroke, but if he make pins 
enough to burst him, it is his own loss — ^provided he 
was not called on to play ; in such case he cannot lose 
by it, and any count made by such stroke is null. He 
whose turn it was to play, when the other played out 
of turn, plays next in order. 

22d. But one privilege is allowed in the game, (the 
first player bursted,) unless by consent of all the 
players. 

23d. In taking a privilege, the player has the right 
to draw a second private ball, and to choose between 
that and his original ball ; but he must decide quickly 
which ball he will keep, before the next stroke be 
made. 

24th. Each privilege follows the la^t number, in rota- 
tion, the first privilege playing immediately after the 
last player in the original game, the second privilege 
follows the first, and so on. If the last player burst 
► and take a privilege, he plays on, immediately after 
choosing his private ball. 

25th. If the balls are touching each other, the player 
can play with either of the balls so touching, straight 
at the pins, without touching another ball, and any 
count so made is good except when the play conflicts 
with Eules 26, 27 and 31. 



280 The Game of Billiards. 

26tli. Any pin knocked down by jarring tlie table, 
blowing upon the ball, or altering or intercepting its 
course in running, does not count, nor is the player 
entitled to any pin or pins that may be made by any 
ball (though not interfered with), during the same 
play. 

27th. Should a ball jump off the table, and come in 
contact with a player, or any other person, and fall 
back on the table and knock down pins, such pin or 
pins so knocked down shall not count, and the ball 
must be spotted; but if another ball gets pins by the 
same stroke, the pins so made are counted. 

28th. Should a player, in the act of striking his ball 
or playing, knock down pins otherwise than with the 
ball played with or at, he is not entitled to such pins, 
or any others he may make by the same stroke. 

29th. Should a player, in the act of playing, touch the 
ball with his cue before the stroke is made, it shall be 
declared a miss, and the ball be spotted. 

30th. The gamekeeper is not responsible to the winner 
of a pool for more than the actual amount of stakes ii 
received from the players in such pool. 

31st. The player is not entitled to any pins knocked 
down unless his private ball be placed in its proper 
place in the board. 

82d. The players themselves are to see that all pins 



The Game of Billiards. 231 

properly knocked down, be placed to their respective 
credit. 

83d. The player in this game, as in billiards, has the 
sole right of looking after his own interests, and neither 
the gamekeeper nor any of the bystanders have any 
right to dictate to or advise him, unless by the consent 
of all the players. 

84th. The gamekeeper shall collect the stakes, and 
jnake up the pool ; deal out the small balls to the play- 
ers ; see that the balls and pins are properly spotted ; 
that there are no more private balls out than there are 
players in the pool ; and if any balls are missing, pro- 
claim its number to the players — as the pool cannot be 
won by such ball ; — call out each number in its turn 
to the players, and proclaim, loud enough for them to 
hear it, the number they already count, from pins 
knocked down. 

35th. No person is considered in the game unless his 
stakes be paid in. 

36th. All other contingencies not herein provided for, 
are to be referred to the gamekeeper, whose decision 
shall be final. 



232 The Game of Billiards. 



RULES FOR THE GAME OF ENGLISH POOL. 

There are several ways of playing pool, — namely, 
with as many balls as there are players; or with 
two balls only, the players playing in turns, and 
with the alternate balls ; playing at the nearest ball ; 
playing at the last player ; or the player playing at 
whichever ball he chooses. But the most popular 
mode is that in which the player plays at the last 
player. This is likewise the fairest way of playing the 
game. 

The following are the rules for the game according 
to this last method : 

RULES FOR POOL PLAYIKG AT THE LAST PLAYER. 

1st. When colored balls are used in playing this game, 
the players must play progressively as the colors are 
placed on the marking-board, the top color being 
No. 1. 

2d. Each player has three lives at starting. No. 1 
places his ball on the winning and losing spot — No. 2 
plays at No. 1 — No. 3 at No. 2, and so on, each person 
playing at the last ball : unless it should be in hand, 
then the player plays at the nearest ball. 

3d. If a striker should lose a life in any way, the 



The Game of Billiards. 238 

next player plays at the nearest ball to his own ; but 
if his (the player's) ball be in hand, he plays at the 
nearest ball to the centre of the baulk line, whether in 
or out of the baulk. 

4th. Should a doubt arise respecting the distance of 
balls, it must (if at the commencement of the game, or 
if the player's ball be in hand) be measured from the 
centre spot in the circle ; but if the striker's ball be not 
in hand, the measurement must be made from his ball 
to the others ; and in both cases it must be decided by 
the marker, or by the majority of the company ; but 
should the distances be equal, then the parties must 
draw lots. 

5th. The baulk is no protection at Pool under any 
circumstances. 

6th. The player may lose a life by any one of the 
following means : — by pocketing his own ball ; by 
running a coup ; by missing the ball ; by forcing his 
ball off the table ; by playing with the wrong ball ; by 
playing at the wrong ball; or by playing out of 
his turn. 

N.B. A life is lost by a ball being pocketed, or 
forced off the table by the adversary. 

7th. Should the striker pocket the ball he plays at, 
and by the same stroke pocket his own, or force it over 
the table, he loses the life, and not the person whose 
ball he pocketed. 



234 The Game of Billiards. 

8th. Should the player strike the wrong ball, he pays 
the same forfeit to the person whose ball he should 
have played at, as he would have done if he had 
pocketed it. 

9th. If the striker miss the ball he ought to play at, 
and strike another ball, and pocket it, he loses a life, 
and not the person whose ball he pocketed ; in which 
case, the striker's ball must be taken off the table, and 
both balls should remain in hand, until it be their turn 
to play. 

10th. If the striker, whilst taking his aim, inquire 
which of the balls he ought to play at, and should be 
misinformed by any one of the players, or by the 
marker, he does not lose a life ; the ball must, in this 
case, be replaced, and the stroke played again. 

11th. If information is required by the player, as to 
which is his ball, or when it is his turn to play, he has 
a right to an answer from the marker, or from the 
players. 

12th. When a ball or balls touch the striker's ball, 
or are in a line between it and the ball he has to play 
at, so that it will prevent him hitting any part of the 
object-ball, they must be taken up until the stroke be 
played, and after the balls have ceased running they 
must be replaced. 

18th. If a ball or balls are in the way of a striker's 
cue, so that he cannot play at his ball, he can have 
them taken up. 



The Game of Billiards. 285 

14tli. When the striker takes a life, he may con- 
tinue to play on as long as he can make a hazard, or 
until the balls are all off the table, in which latter case 
he plays from the baulk, or places his ball on the spot 
as at the commencement. 

15th. The first person who loses his three lives is 
entitled to purchase, or, as it is called, to star (that be- 
ing the mark placed against his lives on the board to 
denote that he has purchased), by paying into the pool 
the same sum as at the commencement, for which he 
receives lives equal in number to the lowest number of 
lives on the board. 

16th. If the first person out refuse to star, the second 
person may do it ; but if the second refuse, the third 
may do it, and so on, until only two persons are left in 
the pool, in which case the privilege of starring 
ceases. 

17th. Only one star is allowed in a pool. 

18th. If the striker should move another ball whilst 
in the act of striking his own ball, the stroke is con- 
sidered foul ; and if by the same stroke he pocket a 
ball, or force it off the table, the owner of that ball 
does not lose a life, and the ball must be placed on its 
original spot ; but if by that stroke he should pocket 
his own ball, or force it off the table, he loses a life. 

19th. If the striker's ball touch the ball he has to 
play at, he is then at liberty either to play at it or at 
any other ball on the table, and it is not to be consid- 



236 The Game of Billiards. 

ered a foul stroke : in this case, however, the striker 
is liable to lose a life, by going into a pocket or over 
the table. 

20th. After making a hazard, if the striker should 
take up his ball, or stop it before it has done running, 
he cannot claim the life, or the hazard, from the person 
whose ball was pocketed; it being possible that his 
own ball might have gone into a pocket if he had not 
stopped it. 

21st. If, before a star, two or more balls are pocketed 
by the same stroke, including the ball played at, each 
having one life, the owner of the ball first struck has 
the option of starring ; but should he refuse, and more 
than one remain, the persons to whom they belong 
must draw lots for the star. 

2 2d. Should the striker's ball stop on the spot of a 
ball removed, the ball which has been removed must 
remain in hand until the spot is unoccupied, and then 
be replaced. 

23d. K the striker should have his next player's ball 
removed, and stop on the spot it occupied, the next 
player must give a miss from the baulk to any part of 
the table he thinks proper, for which miss he does not 
lose a life. 

24th. If the striker has a ball removed, and any other 
than the next player's ball should stop on the spot it 
occupied, the ball removed must remain in hand till the 
one on its place be played, unless it should happen to 



The Game of Billiards. 287 

be tlie turn of the one removed to play before the one 
on its place, in whicli case that ball must give place to 
the one originally taken up ; after which it may be re- 
placed. 

25th. If the corner of the cushion should prevent the 
striker from playing in a direct line, he can have any 
ball removed for the purpose of playing at a cushion 
drst. 

26th. The two last players cannot star or purchase ; 
but they may divide, if they are left with an equal 
number of lives each ; the striker, however, is entitled 
to his stroke before the division. 

27th. All disputes to be decided by a majority of the 
players. 

28th. The charge for the play to be taken out of the 
pool before it is delivered up to the winner. 

THE NEAREST BALL POOL. 

In this Pool the players always play at the nearest 
ball out of the baulk ; for in this Pool the baulk is a 
protection. 

1st. If all the balls be in the baulk, and the striker's 
ball in hand, he must lead to the top cushion, or place 
the ball on the winning and losing spot. 

2d. If the striker's ball be within the baulk line, and 



238 The Game of Billtards. 

he has to play at a ball out of the baulk, he is allowed 
to have any ball taken up that may chance to Ik 
in his way. 

3d. If all the balls be within the baulk, and the 
striker's ball not in hand, he plays at the nearest ball. 

All the other rules of the former pool are to be ob- 
served at this. 



The Game of Billiards. 239 



INSTEUOTIONS TO THE MARKER, 

FOR KEEPING COUNT OF THE AMERICAN, OR FOUR BALL GAME. 

1st. Give tlie striker two for pocketing his oppo- 
nent's ball, or for caroming on a white and red. 

2d. Give him three for each red ball pocketed, or 
for a carom on the two red balls. 

8d. Give him four for caroming on a red and white, 
and pocketing his opponent's ball. 

4th. Give him five for caroming on all the balls, 
no matter in what order they are touched ; also, five 
for holeing a red ball and caroming on his opponent's, 
and five for caroming on the two red balls and pocket- 
ing his opponent's. 

5th. Give him six when he caroms on the two red 
balls, and pockets one of them. 

6th. Let him have seven when he caroms on a 
white and red ball, and pockets both ; the same when 
he caroms on all the balls, and pockets the white. 

7th. For pocketing one of the red balls, and carom- 
ing on all the others, let him have eight ; also for 
caroming on the two reds, pocketing one of them, and 
also his opponent's ball. 



240 The Game of Billiards. 

Stli. Give him nine for caroming on the two reds, 
and pocketing them. 

9th. For caroming on all the balls and pocketing a 
red ball and his opponetft's, give him ten. 

10th. For caroming on all the balls and pocketing 
the two reds, let him have eleven. 

11th. Let him have thirteen (the highest figure 
that can be won by one stroke in this game) when he 
caroms on all, and pockets all the balls, except his 
own. 

12th. Give his adversary one when the player 
makes a miss, or fails to hit any of the balls on the 
table with his own. 

13th. Give his opponent TWO when the player's ball 
jumps over the side of the table, or lodges on the top 
of the cushion after it has struck a white ball ; two, 
also, if the player pockets his own ball after touching 
his opponent's. 

14th. The opponent takes three when the striker 
pockets his own ball, without touching any other on 
the table, or after it has touched a red ; or causes it to 
jump off the table or lodge on the cushion, under the 
same circumstances. 



The Game of Billiaeds. 241 



CHAPTEE VL 

GENERAL SUMMARY OP INSTRUCTIONS. 

In the foregoing pages our sole object has been to 
assist the student by such simple and practical instruc- 
tions as, with the assistance of the diagrams, would 
facilitate his acquirement of the true principles and 
execution of the game. We might have given accom- 
plished players a higher estimate of our individual 
proficiency, had we entered into the minutiae of prob- 
lems which are possible, but most difficult of attain- 
ment. But, in order to secure simplicity and useful- 
ness, it became necessary to sacrifice whatever personal 
advantage this latter course might have produced. 
Our book is designed as an aid to amateurs, and not as 
a test for the capacities and expertness of professional 
or first-class players. These latter must be well aware, 
from experience, that there are delicacies and mysteries 
of execution which they accomplish daily, but could 
no more be described in words, than the last finishing 
touches with which the painter gives life and indivi- 
duality to the dead features of his portrait. We have 
before said, and again repeat, if possible more emphati- 
cally, that the novice, to profit by our labors, must 
either put himself at first under the tuition of a com- 
petent master, or study our problems with the cue in 
one hand and the book on the table before him. 

11 



242 The Game of Billiards. 

Let the quantities of power be practiced with pa- 
tience, until they are thoroughly acquired; every hour 
devoted to obtaining mastery of the strength and direc- 
tion of the cue, will save months of miserable failure 
in the different experiments of the game. Let the 
student, also, practice the different kinds of strokes — 
force, follow, jump, and so forth, separately, devoting 
a certain time to each, and not passing on to the next 
until he has mastered the preceding one, and taken 
good note of the varieties of angles which, under dif- 
ferent circumstances, it will produce from the cushion. 
By trying them one after another, instead of each by 
itself, the results become as inextricably confounded 
as the different flavors of a French ragout. The cush- 
ions are to billiards what the chords are to music ; 
until their properties are understood, no equable and 
harmonious play can be established. 

These remarks are specially applicable to any player 
who aspires to a knowledge of " nursing," in its bil- 
liard and not babyish sense. By mastering the Quan- 
tities of Power, and making such deductions as expe- 
rience will shortly teach for the loss of strength im- 
parted to the object-ball, the player will eventually be 
enabled to manage and foretell precisely in what posi- 
tions the balls will be left at the end of a contemplated 
stroke. If that position be one from which no further 
advantage to him can be hoped ; or one which — should 
he fail in his immediate object — would leave the balls 
so arranged that his adversary might reasonably ex- 
pect a fine opening ; or should any other, even more 
difficult mode of play occur to him, in which, if sue- 



The Game of Billiards. 243 

cessful, a mTicli finer disposition of the balls would be 
left, or a disposition much less favorable to his adver- 
sary ; in any one or all of these contingencies, dis- 
cretion will be found the better part of valor, and 
in the end it will appear that, not the brilliancy, but 
the persistent good judgment of the shots will carry 
off the palm. 

This art of nursing the balls is indeed the most 
difficult attainment and crowning glory of the game : 
to discover when the balls are separated to the four 
corners of the table, some device or series of devices 
which, with good execution, will gradually bring them 
nearer and nearer, finally bringing them within one 
corner or against a cushion, where the least touches of 
the cue will make a succession of caroms ; or where 
a vigorous stroke will make some one of them travel 
over a great space, and yet come back to its cluster as 
infallibly as the young birds to the nest ; or where 
this is impossible — ^no further run to be made and the 
count exhausted — then to scatter them over the table 
in worse than Siberian exile one from another, so that 
the player who succeeds may inherit only a barren 
kingdom ;— in these things consists the highest excel- 
lence of the judicious player, and he who can do these 
things best is certain of success in the course of con- 
tinuous play. The danger of this art, however, un- 
less the player feel very sure of his own skill, is serious 
and not lightly to be incurred. Should he bring the 
balls together and then, by a miss, so leave them for 
his opponent — he may look out for a run which will 
slightly damage his chances of the game. "Wherever 



244 The Game of Billiakds. 

tliere is danger of his missing the next shot, it would 
be prudent rather to separate the balls in the worst 
position possible for the succeeding player, and wait 
patiently for another chance. 

It should always be borne in mind that the game 
will not be decided by the player's capacity to perform 
any particular stroke ; the most brilliant shot is a mis- 
take, if it does not leave the balls in a position from 
which another count can be effected. Let the student, 
while he plays for the stroke before him, keep an eye 
on the ensuing stroke, of which that stroke will be the 
father ; let him see to it, that this offspring shall not 
be a disgrace and expense to him. When the balls 
are so placed that no count can be reasonably expected, 
then play for safety, and divide the balls in the way 
least likely to turn to your opponent's profit. 

The student, moreover, should avoid the dangerous 
temptation of playing hard for a ^^ scratch." Let him 
invariably play for some definite object, and then, 
should he fail, he will have learned something that 
may insure success another time ; but the scratch game 
does away with all ideas of scientific proficiency, and 
every count so acquired is a positive obstacle in the 
path of any future and permanent progress. The fable 
of the hare and the tortoise is an old one, but it will 
receive new confirmation if two novices commence — 
the one playing as we direct, and the other playing 
wildly for the chances. After a few months' steady 
practice of the different kinds of stroke, and quantities 
of power, our pupil would then commence the actual 
game, with advantages which would quickly place him 



The Game of Billiards. 245 

in tlie front rank of scientific players ; wliile the other 
would be years before attaining the average proficiency, 
and never could hope for a higher rank, until he un- 
learned the absurdities of his own teaching, and had 
gone back to the point from which the other started. 

Eemember, always, that a game is never lost until 
the last point has been strung off: if your adversary 
be a long way ahead of you, it is all the more your 
duty to take advantage of those careless strokes, into 
which his apparent superiority will be likely to betray 
him. Deal tenderly with your opponent's ball ; do 
not pocket it, if any other play will serve your pur- 
pose; if it be tucked under the cushion, reflect on the 
stroke that is to follow, before you disturb its dreams ; 
and bear in mind that it is better to play for two and 
win, than for thirteen, which you will be likely to 
miss. It is easier, also, — or if not, it is at least much 
better — to chalk your cue and strike, than to make a 
miscue and then chalk. Our final advice to the learner 
is, to take sufiicient time and care to insure success to 
his stroke. 

The author would indeed be ungrateful, did he fail 
to acknowledge the kind and valuable help which has 
been given him, both by amateurs and professional 
friends, in the compilation of this treatise. He would 
gladly acknowledge his indebtedness to each by name, 
were it not that he knows they are of the class who 

" Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame." 

Let them, therefore, take the will for the deed ; and 
believe us, that for their friendly help and many gener- 



246 The Game of Billiards 

ous favors, not only in this, but in all other matters 
wherewith we have been professionally connected, 
we thank them with a sincerity which is too deep and 
fervent to be expressed in such words as are ours to 
offer. 

To conclude — for the writer makes no pretence to 
the refinements of authorship, and his language, here 
and there, may be open to unfriendly criticism — he 
would say that the theories and principles laid down 
in the foregoing pages have been those he himself 
has followed, during a career which, in its own humble 
way, has not been unattended with distinction ; and if 
any professional litterateur — or professional player, for 
the matter of that — should take exception to any of 
the matters which he has here laid down, as the result 
of his own experience, he can only say that he will be 
happy to meet them in his own, or any other billiard 
saloon where the tables are correct, and decide the 
question in dispute by a direct appeal to the balls. 
However insignificant he may be with a pen in his 
hand, he flatters himself that with a cue he would be 
able to teach a majority of his critics a lesson it would 
profit them to know. They might teach him ^' the 
whole duty of man," upon paper; but, on the tables, 
he could teach them the whole duty of a billiard- 
player. 



APPENDIX. 



This article, it will be observed, was written previous to the 
granting of Mr. Phelan's patent ; and for the generous apprecia- 
tion of his improvements here exhibited, the author takes this 
public opportunity of returning his heartfelt thanks to the disinter- 
ested editors of that eminent and justly popular journal. He con- 
fesses he is vain enough to think that his improvements, from their 
palpable and intrinsic merit, and from the general dissatisfaction 
with which the old style of billiard-tables and cushions were re- 
garded, must eventually have won their way to public approbation 
and adoption : but he is equally, if not more confident, that the re- 
commendation given from so high a source, did much to facilitate 
their adoption and secure them that honest trial which was all he 
asked, and which — as the event has proved — was all he needed for 
success. 

"IMPKOYED BILLIARD-TABLES AND CUSHIONS." 

{From the Scientific American, December 23d, 1855.) 

" The accompanying engravings illustrate an improvement in 
Billiard Tables, invented by Michael Phelan, 39 Chambers street, 
this city, who has taken measures to secure a patent. 

" Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the model table and combina- 
tion cushions, partly showing the improvements — their construction 
and the shape of the pocket-irons — " jaws " — and sights, and the 
inventor would take this opportunity of calling the attention of all 
disciples of the beautiful and scientific game of billiards to the in- 
spection of these diagrams and the brief explanations accompany- 
ing them. He feels confident that he has accomplished that which 



24S 



Appendix. 




has occupied the attention of biHiard-table manufacturers, on the 
one hand and all scientific players on the other— an improved 
moael tor the table, with cushions possessing the requisite elasticity 
to produce correct an.rrles when played on. 

" Fig 2 is a diagram, showing a top view of the bed, cushions, 
and pockets of a billiard table ; this diagram illustrates the angles 



Ai^rENDix. 



249 




produced by a " stroke " of equal strength when played on the 
" combmation " cloth and India-rubber cushions. The example is, 
a ball played from the centre of the side pocket over line a to the 
point on the opposite cushion with sufficient strength to make it 
rebound to the side from which it started, and back again. On the 
combination cushions it will describe the angles marked A A A, on 
the diagram, which evidently are correct angles, the base of both 
being equal. But on the India-rubber cushions, the ball, if played 
11* 



250 



Appendix 



with the same force, produces angles to correspond with the dotted 
lines marked B B, and if played with an increased force, it will 
finally return in a direct line parallel with the end cushions, when, 
if correct angles had been produced, the ball would have returned 
to the corner pocket opposite to the ball marked a at the termina- 
tion of the line A. 

" The second example is intended to illustrate the difierence of 
the angles produced by a stroke on the cloth, combination and 
India-rubber cushions ; play ball a against the cushion as repre- 
sented in diagram, with a moderate degree of strength, and the 
angles produced on the different cushions named will correspond 
with those lines marked " cloth," " combination," and " India rub- 
ber ;" the cloth cushion will produce an angle too obtuse, the India 
rubber an angle too acute, while the combination cushion will pro- 
duce a correct right angle ; this can be proved by actual demon- 
stration on the different tables. For the purpose of illustrating the 
cause of this, the reader is referred to figs, 4, 5 and 6, which are 
sectional views of the different cushions named. 

" Fig. 3 is a view of one corner of the model table, showing the 
improvements introduced in the shape of pockets, pocket-irons, and 
'' sights " or " nails " by which the great inconvenience of the " old 
school tables " are entirely obviated ; also the improvements in the 
shape of cushions, a shows the shape of the jaws, h is the cue in 
a horizontal position, and c shows the shape of the jaws in old style. 
In fig. 4, a shows the manner the cue has to be elevated on the old 
style of cushions ; h is the sight ; c the India-rubber tube, and d 
the ball, a, fig. 5, is the cue in a horizontal position, h is the 
sight inserted level with the cushion, c exhibits the manner in 
which the cushion is secured ; e is the ball. 




Fia.3 



" Figures 5 and 6. The combination cushions are half an inch lower 
than the old style cushions ; this is of the greatest importance, for 
when the ball is at rest close to it, it can be struck and played with 
almost the same facility as if it were at any other part of the table, 



Appendix. 261 

enabling the player to play with his cue in nearly a horizontal posi- 
tion, (fig. 5) and not be obliged to elevate it as the cue is represented 
by a in fig. 4. Another improvement is the nails or sights marked 
b b. In the old style (fig. 4) they project above the cushion and in- 
terfere with many strokes during the play. In fig. 5 they are in- 
serted in, and level with the surface of the cushion ; the pocket- 
irons, also, are level with the surface of the combination cushions, 
thus allowing the player to strike the ball when in the position 
represented in fig. 3, with the cue b perfectly horizontal. These 
improvements will be obvious to all good billiard-players. The 
most important, perhaps of all, is the difference in the shape of the 
pockets. The dotted lines, c c, at each side of the pocket, fig. 3, are 
intended to show the difierence between the shape on the old style 
and those on the model table. By constructing the " jaws " of the 
pockets in this style there is an additional surface of some thirty 
inches more of correct cushions added to the space to be played on, 
over and above that on the old style tables, and many strokes can 
be made that would be impossible on the old ones. Again, there is 
no deceptive appearance presented to the player when playing a 
ball at a pocket as there is on the old, wide gaping "jaws," which 
do not " take " a ball as easily as those on the model tables, c c, 
fig. 3, therefore shows the old style shape of the pocket, and a the 
new style on the combination cushion. There is at least five inches 
more cushion on each pocket of the new, or thirty inches on the 
whole. Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the India-rubber cushion, 
known amongst the billiard-table makers as the " pipe " or " tube " 
cushion. It is composed of a long round strip of rubber, sometimes 
hollow and sometimes solid, as they wish to increase or diminish the 
degree of elasticity. The ball, d, is represented in contact with it. 
When the ball comes in contact with the rubber it sinks in, or is 
embedded in it more or less, according to the degree of force with 
which it may be impelled ; the greater the force the more the rubber 
is compressed, and the more the ball is embedded, and this sinking 
in or embedding of the ball, together with the extreme elasticity of 
the rubber, is the cause of the angle produced by the rebound, being 
acute, and so much at variance with correct angles. Fig. 5 is a 
sectional view, representing the new " combination " cushion, in 
which the inventor, after a series of experiments, has succeeded in 
producing an article in which the objections referred to in the old 
table are entirely obviated, and in which other important improve- 
ments are introduced. The " com'bination '' cushion, that is, the 
portion of it which causes the rebound of the ball after contact with 
it, is composed of three different materials (not including the cloths 
for covers) by which a cushion elastic at its back and comparatively 
solid, yet pliable at its face, is produced, thus preventing the ball 



252 



Appendix. 



sinking in, and yet retaining the elasticity of the substance marked 
d. These three substances are of different degrees of elasticity, and 
are so combined and graduated as to produce angles in accordance 
with scientific principles. 




" Fig. 6 is a sectional view of another India-rubber cushion 
called the " English pattern." d is the ball, c the India rubber, 
and b the sight. Some persons engaged in the manufacture of 
what they call billiard tables are using it, and talk about correct 
angles, without well knowing what they mean. This cushion is 




simply a strip of rubber of the shape represented ; and the same 
objections exist in this as in the " pipe " or ^' tube " cushion, viz., 
nn embedding of the ball, and too much elasticity ; at all events, 



Appendix. 253 

the test is the angles, and they are found to give angles at variance 
with all known geometrical principles. This figure also serves to 
illustrate the shape of the old-fashioned cloth cushion, composed of 
long strips or layers of cloth stretched parallel with the cushion 
rail ; they are now nearly out of use, as the " pipe," " tube," and 
English pattern will be, as soon as the advantages of the " combi- 
nation cushions" become generally known. 

" It is a well-known fact among scientific billiard-players, that 
speed and truth cannot be obtained in a cushion. Beyond a certain 
degree of elasticity in a cushion, the more incorrect it becomes. 
When we say speed, we mean the ridiculous railroad pace lately 
brought into use in public billiard-rooms, and which meet the ap- 
proval of those only who are advocates for chance hazards or 
caroms ; while to the player who calculates upon, and who is accus- 
tomed to geometrical demonstration, it is painful to see the beauti- 
ful and scientific properties of the flame disgraced. 

" The ' Combination Cushions' are fast enough for every purpose 
of scientific play ; and by playing on a table constructed as just 
described, a knowledge of the game would be more easily acquired, 
whilst a greater number of points could be made from the balls ; 
by using them, the proprietors of billiard-rooms would, we think, 
find players of merit more anxious to contend and test the strength 
of their games." 

The following, from the same paper are descriptive of the im- 
provements in these tables, for which patents have recently been 
granted. 

COMBINATION BILLIAED CUSHION. 

" The patent granted this week to M.- Phelan and H. W. Col- 
lender, of this city, is for an improved mode of carrying out a 
principle in billiard cushions covered by a former patent, secured 
in 1856, by Mr. Phelan, and illustrated in the Scientific American, 
vol. xi. page 116. 

" The present improvement consists simply in the combination of 
two rubbers of different degrees of density, the hardest rubber being 
the face, and the softest the foundation of the cushion. The ad- 
vantage of using a denser rubber as a facing, instead of a cork, 
steel, or whalebone facing, is this : It possesses within itself a prop- 
erty whereby it and the rubber foundation can readily be united. 
It is also superior to a steel strip or whalebone, because it presents 
a denser surface of such a nature as will avoid the disagreeable 



254 Appendix. 

bang of the steel or whalebone strip, and which will " grip" the ball 
so as not to injure its correct reflection, and yet give a greater effect 
to the '' twisting shots." It likewise prevents the ball sliding off at 
an incorrect angle, when played at a very obtuse angle against the 
cushion. 

"As Mr. Phelan has the reputation of being the best billiard 
player in the United States, and understands the requirements of the 
table, his improvement must commend itself to those of the public, 
who play this almost national game." — Scientific American, Dec. 19, 
1857. 

" H. W. Collender, of 53 Ann Street, this city, has patented an 
improvement in Billiard Cushions, which consists in uniting the 
comparatively solid strip of rubber, gutta percha, steel or whale- 
bone, to the elastic or spring foundation, by placing the compara- 
tively solid substance in a mould, and allowing the melted rubber to 
flow against, or the plastic rubber to be pressed around, or in con- 
tact with the same, so that it shall surround the edges, back, and 
ends of the same, and thus securely confine it, without the necessity 
of using cement, nails, hinges, or any cloth covering to retain it. 
We regard this as a very valuable improvement in the manufacture 
of the cushion, and like former inventions of Mr. Collander, in this 
branch of the arts, it commends itself to the public." — Scientific 
American, Jan, 23, 1858. 

The principle discovered and propounded in Mr. Phelan's 
earliest patent, to wit, that a billiard cushion, to combine speed 
with correctness, should have a comparatively solid facing, and 
the springs or elasticity in its back, has been admitted by all 
manufacturers, and they have unsuccessfully endeavored to pirate 
that discovery by using strips of gutta percha, whalebone, leather, 
steel, &c.; but the concussion of the ball has displaced all these, and 
it has been found impossible to keep such tables in order. Tables 
so made, moreover, gave out an unpleasant sound or bang whenever 
struck. 

The new combination gives the simplest and most perfect embod- 
iment of this principle in a form that can never be pu •nt of order, 
and which obviates (if it ever existed) the only solitary objection ever 
heretofore urged against the first combination of cork, rubber and 
leather, by which Mr. Phelan carried out his discovery into practi- 
cal utility. 



Appendix. 255 

This new invention, too, has the advantage of forming one homo- 
geneous whole — a cushion, in which the parts, though of different 
consistencies, are the same and inseparable. A mere hard face 
could be obtained by strips of steel or whalebone, but these become 
separated by the constant shocks of the balls ; and even those 
manufacturers who adopted them — thus, hoping to pirate Mr. 
Phelan's principle, while avoiding the penalties for infringement 
of his patent, have been forced to abandon them, after finding that 
a few weeks, or sometimes hours, would set their " machinery" out 
of order. 



256 



PHELAN'S IMPROVED BILLIARD CUSHIONS 




Appendix. 257 

Our illustration represents a great improvement in the form of 
billiard cushions, which is intended to overcome two great evils that 
attend the ordinary construction. Figure 3 is the old form of 
cushion and pocket. A is the table, B the side, and C the 
cushion ; D the pocket, and E the pocket-iron, covered as usual with 
leather. In this form of cushion, it will be seen that it is gradu- 
ally sloped off' from its proper width to the pocket, and the player, 
when his ball strikes any portion of the sloped part, can never be 
exactly certain of the angle at which the ball will re-bound ; by 
this means, a great quantity of accurate reflecting surface is lost to 
the player. Again, when a ball enters a pocket, it is almost sure to 
strike the pocket-iron at one of the points marked c, and in practice, 
it is found that the leather covering of the pocket-iron quickly 
wears away from those points, leaving the metal bare against which 
the ball strikes, and becomes in consequence, quickly worn out and 
injured, so as to be unfit for playing. 

Figure 2 shows a side pocket on the new principle, the same let- 
ters referring to the same parts as in figure 3, in which it will be 
seen that the cushions, C, are extended perfectly even in their 
width, close to the pocket-hole (as will also be observed in figure 1, 
which is a corner pocket on this plan) , so that a greater amount of 
reflecting surface is obtained ; for the Game of Billiards is not one 
of chance, but one of mathematical precision and accuracy. The 
cushions turn off" abruptly at a slight angle to the pocket, just 
enough to give a clear entrance to the ball, and of such a shape 
from the corner of c, that should the ball once strike these, it can- 
not fail entering the pocket ; and they also project about one-eighth 
of an inch in front of the pocket-iron. The shape of the pocket- 
iron has also undergone a material change in shape ; it is, as will be 
seen, perfectly concave, and there is no part which can possibly be 
touched by the ball, but the moment it enters the space between the 
cushions, it is sure to fall into the pocket without touching the iron 
at all. We regard this as a great and important improvement in 
the billiard table, and will, no doubt, be thoroughly appreciated by 
the numbers who take delight in this popular and almost universal 
game. 

It is the invention of Michael Phelan, of New York. A patent 
was secured January 12, 1858, for the shape of pocket-irons and 
angular cushions, combined or separate. 



Appendix. 



259 



To this Poem we have made due refiference in the text, at its appropriate place. 
The verses originally appeared in the Billiard Cue. 

"ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING." 

In very slight things a man^s idiosyncracy 

Slyly peeps out, and we havn't a doubt 
That many a man whom his neighbors may thinls crazy, 

Only displays in more notable ways 
Some peculiar distinguishing characteristic. 
Which, were it at all like our own, we should praise. 
But severely condemn when 'tis antagonistic. 

These distinguishing traits are most forcibly shown 
In a game, which of late, has most popular grown ; 
A very correct psychological steelyards 
For character weighing — of course, we mean billiards. 
E'en attitude, sometimes, may give us a cue 
To a man's inner life ; so, dear reader, if you 
Havn't any objections, we'll hazard a few 
Illustrations, by which we'll endeavor to prove 
The truth of the statements we've ventured above. 




The first we select from th' incongruous mass, 
Is a strongly marked type of a numerous class : 



260 



Appendix. 



The young man, who, his exquisite elegance shows 

By the studious grace of his delicate pose, 

And who handles his cue with so dainty an air, 

That you're forced to agree with his friends, who declare 

His games '' very pretty to look at," although 

In the matter of counting, His only so so. 

As a contrast, we next your attention will claim 
For the athletic player, whose vigorous frame 




Makes him play what is commonly called a ''strong game ;" 

"Who always declares that *' there's six on the balls ;" 

Sends them all round the table 'till one of them falls 

Into one of the pockets — he doesn't much care 

Into which ; for, as every one's fully aware, 

In love, war, and billiards, all chances are fair ; 

And as to his caroms, you safely may swear 

If there's one on the table, he's sure to be "there ;" 

For his ball goes so fast, that, unless it should drop 

In a pocket, it's very safe never to stop 

Until one of the others, (fulfilling the laws 

Of physics, which show each phenomenon's cause,) 

By assuming its motion, compels it to pause. 



The third we advance to the threshold of fame 
Is the young man, que void, who '' plays his own game :" 
Who displays at his scratches no kind of remorse, 
And eternally tries some impossible ^'force,^'' 
Which results in a jump and a follow combined ; 
While his cue, at a '' forty-five" angle inclined, 



Appendix. 



261 



As if conscious of sad disgrace, seems nothing loth 
To hide half its length through a hole in the cloth. 




Turn we next to the youth whose deliberate game 
Is displayed in the pause that he makes ere his aim 




Is finally taken : — His cue raised in air, 
He scans ev'ry angle and cushion with care ; 
Studies all of his shots in their smallest details, 
Then, preceding to execute, — commonly fails ! 

We pass to a player who's quite the reverse 
Of the last, and, if such a thing's possible, worse : 
We allude to him, who — after striking his ball. 
Finds it requisite over the the table to sprawl ; 
And makes with his cue little comets of chalk 
On the cloth as he follows his shot : — Then he'll walk 



262 



Appendix. 



Up to some of his friends, and, extending his hand, 
Proclaims loudly that '' Really, he can't understand 




How so simple a carom he failed to do right, 

For he saw Phelan make the shot, only last night !" 

Then, again, there's the man, from whom Heaven preserve us, 
Whose careful aim makes his antagonist nervous ; 




Who saws with his cue, until really you wonder 

He don't saw his thumb and fore-finger asunder ; 

If you watch him, you'll find, ere it comes to your chance, 

You're performing a sort of St. Vitus's dance. 

There's the player, too, who, when he misses a count, 
Of profanity utters a startling amount : 
His toe cocked in air with an exquisite grace. 
And the greatest anxiety marked on his face, 



Appekdix. 



263 



He looks half way between a '' young man about town,*' 
And George Christy about to commence a break-down ; 




And he swears — ^how he swears ! — when to count he's not able- 
At leather, chalk, cue, cushions, cloth, balls, and table : 
And if his opponent should happen to '' scratch it," 
Perhaps he's not morally certain to '' catch it." 

Who's this? who distorts all his human proportions 
By the wildest of wild calisthenic contortions ? 
Is't a maniac ? No, gentle reader, not so : 
'Tis the man who points out where his ball ought to go, 




By twisting bis head, arms, and body about ; 

And who startles your ears with a lunatic shout 

As he screams at the balls, to '' go in" or " keep out ;" 



264 Appendix. 

When one of his efforts successfully ends, he 
Howls, dances, and raves in a regular frenzy. 
But if his attempts chance to finish in failure, 
Groans, dismal as dirges, and deep growls assail your 
Auricular organs, as, sunk in despair, 
He writhes himself into the nearest arm-chair. 

And now, reader dear, if you'll lend us your ear, 
We'll tell you, in confidence, how to keep clear 
Of all of the errors we've held up to view. 
And, without absurd habits, to manage your cue. 

If you think it worth while 

To play billiards in style. 
And make ^^running^^ that's only surpassed by the Croton, 

As Cuttle would say, 

In his forcible way, 
" Overhaul Phelan's book, and when found, make a note on!" 



Appendix. 



266 



The following little jeu d'espi'it from the pen of a distinguished dramatist and 
fictor, which originally appeared in the Billiard Cue, we feel tempted to reproduce 
here — assured that its ingenuity cannot tail to amuse the reader. 



HAKSPEARE A BILLIARD PLAYER. 

We have stumbled on a most 
important discovery ; or rather a 
most important discovery has at 
length been made by our critical 
and protracted investigations. We 
have found beyond controversy 
that the ^' sweet Swan of Avon^^ 
was a most devoted billiard player; 
and that nearly every term em- 
ployed in the game is a direct quo- 
tation from the writings of that 
immortal bard. In every play of 
his, there are allusions to the game, 
and in every allusion he proves 
himself its master 5 not one of its 
intricacies has escaped his all-seeing eye. " Let us to hilliards,^^ he 
exclaims, in Antony and Cleopatra, (Act IL, scene 5.) *' My cue is 
villainous,'' he complains in King Lear, (Act I. scene 1.) '' Why 
these balls hound,'''' or ''jump,'' he indignantly cries in All's Well 
that Ends Well, (Act II. scene 3.) ''I did present him with those 
'Paris balls,''^ he announces in Henry the Fifth, (Act I. scene 2.) 
thereby proving that French balls and cues were then thought better 
than English. ''When my cue comes, call me," he orders in the Mid- 
summer Night's Dream, (Act IV. scene 1.) from which we may judge 
that he had sent it to whoever was then the "King of the Billiard 
Leatherers" for a new top. "Every one according to his ewe," he 
adds in the same play, (Act III. scene 1.) meaning, doubtless, that a 
man should proportion his " strength" to the weight of the cue with 
which he plays. "Remember you your ewe.?" he inquires in the 
Merry Wives of Windsor, (Act III. scene 3.) thereby insinuating that 

12 




266 Appendix. 

every first-class player should have a private or peculiar cue, the 
weight and force of which he might remember. Speaking of the 
old style of cushions, he denounces them in Coriolanus, (Act Y. scene 
3.) as '' cushions no softer than the flint," and then turning prophet- 
ically towards Michael Phelan, he begs in his most solemn manner, 
(same play, Act. III. scene 1.) ^^Let them have cushions hy you !^' 
He is familiar with such terms as ''hazard,'^ ''lead," ''scratch," 
"light spot," " Billiard sharp," and so forth ; in fact, we may say 
with truth that he is "fully posted." "Take your hazard back 
again,'- he says to some brother player in the Merchant of Venice, 
(Act I. scene 1.) "Your hazard shall be made," he again exclaims 
in the same play, (Act II. scene 1.) as if to encourage a hesitating 
partner. "Nor hazard aught for lead,^- he continues in the 7th 
scene of the same act — showing clearly enough, (what indeed we 
would expect from his wisdom,) that he did not consider the mere 
" lead," per $e, worth " stringing" for. That he was partial to 
" hazards," we may infer from what he says in King John, (Act Y. 
scene 6.) " I will upon all hazards well believe;" and we account 
for the preference when we remember that, as " cushions" had not 
then been much improved — being in fact " no softer than flint," as he 
himself says — the more delicate beauties of " the carom game" could 
not possibly have been known to him. In Timon of Athens, (Act Y. 
scene 5.) there occurs a word which we believe our readers will 
agree with us in regarding as [a printer's error, (and it is confessed 
that there are thousands of such, even in the most careful editions of 
Knight and Collier.) It ought to read, "and by the hazard of the 
spotted hall;^^ but for " ball" the word "die" has been falsely inter- 
polated in a majority of the editions. "I understand kisses,^^ Shaks- 
peare proudly asserts in the first part of Henry the Fourth, (Act III. 
scene 2.) and that he knew the French Doublet or Cross-game is evin- 
ced by the phrase "the last of many doubled kisses,^^ which we find 
in Antony and Cleopatra, (Act I. scene 5.) When some disappointed 
player cries " ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch,''^ perhaps he is not aware 
that he is quoting Romeo and Juliet, (Act III. scene 1.) or should he 
vary the phrase, by saying, " that is but scratched,'^'' he may possibly 
not know that these words are taken from Hamlet, (Act lY. scene 7.) 
" You cannot see the white sjwt,^^ is a phrase in common use, but 
trace it back, and you will find it in the Merry Wives of Windsor, 
(Act lY. scene 5.) When the balls run along the cushion, we often 



Appekdix. 267 

say, ''when they do hug,^'' and going back to Titus Andronicus, we 
find the same description in Act III. scene 1. " Would thou wouldst 
burst,^^ yells Timon of Athens, (Act IV. scene 2.) and Timon, we 
know, was a ''flat" who had probably got "cleaned out" by some 
" sharp" at " pool ;" and this conjecture is strengthened by the con- 
fession in the Tempest, (Act IV. scene 1.) "but to lose our bottles in 
the jpoo/," from which we may reasonably infer that the party had 
been playing for champagne. That they had been playing for some- 
thing, we have proof in the same play, (Act 1. scene 2.) where the 
poet says, "I pray thee mark,^^ indicating that the marker was par- 
ticularly requested to attend to his duties, as the " bottles" were 
depending on the issue. " I have banked,^^ he says in King John, 
(Act V. scene 2.) and in King Lear, (Act V. scene 3.) he makes use 
of another term only appropriate to " pool," where he cries, " It is 
m J privilege. '^^ In Romeo and Juliet, (Act III. scene 5.) he desig- 
nates Billiard-Sharps as "unpleasing sharps j^ ^ dmd in Henry VIII., 
(Act I. scene 3.) he speaks of " honorable points," as if in contra- 
distinction to the "points" made by them. The cushions, as we have 
hinted, were poor, and not reliable in his time ; and thus we see that 
in Winter's Tale, (Act IV. scene 1.) he confesses, " I fear the angle''' 
—meaning doubtless, the incorrectness of the angle of reflection on 
the board. How triumphantly does he shout in Julius Caesar, (Act 
IV. scene 3.) "I put it in the pocket ;" and if the foregoing extracts 
are not enough to convince the most incredulous that Shakspeare 
was a billiard player, and played a pretty strong game in his time, 
then we can only promise that another sbeaf of extracts and quota- 
tions shall be given in our succeeding issue. 

Vive la bagatelle! which, in English, means three cheers for Bil- 
liards ! 



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